Skip to main content

Full text of "The Munster circuit, tales, trials, and traditions"

See other formats 


Google 



This is a digital copy of a book that was preserved for generations on library shelves before it was carefully scanned by Google as part of a project 

to make the world's books discoverable online. 

It has survived long enough for the copyright to expire and the book to enter the public domain. A public domain book is one that was never subject 

to copyright or whose legal copyright term has expired. Whether a book is in the public domain may vary country to country. Public domain books 

are our gateways to the past, representing a wealth of history, culture and knowledge that's often difficult to discover. 

Marks, notations and other maiginalia present in the original volume will appear in this file - a reminder of this book's long journey from the 

publisher to a library and finally to you. 

Usage guidelines 

Google is proud to partner with libraries to digitize public domain materials and make them widely accessible. Public domain books belong to the 
public and we are merely their custodians. Nevertheless, this work is expensive, so in order to keep providing tliis resource, we liave taken steps to 
prevent abuse by commercial parties, including placing technical restrictions on automated querying. 
We also ask that you: 

+ Make non-commercial use of the files We designed Google Book Search for use by individuals, and we request that you use these files for 
personal, non-commercial purposes. 

+ Refrain fivm automated querying Do not send automated queries of any sort to Google's system: If you are conducting research on machine 
translation, optical character recognition or other areas where access to a large amount of text is helpful, please contact us. We encourage the 
use of public domain materials for these purposes and may be able to help. 

+ Maintain attributionTht GoogXt "watermark" you see on each file is essential for in forming people about this project and helping them find 
additional materials through Google Book Search. Please do not remove it. 

+ Keep it legal Whatever your use, remember that you are responsible for ensuring that what you are doing is legal. Do not assume that just 
because we believe a book is in the public domain for users in the United States, that the work is also in the public domain for users in other 
countries. Whether a book is still in copyright varies from country to country, and we can't offer guidance on whether any specific use of 
any specific book is allowed. Please do not assume that a book's appearance in Google Book Search means it can be used in any manner 
anywhere in the world. Copyright infringement liabili^ can be quite severe. 

About Google Book Search 

Google's mission is to organize the world's information and to make it universally accessible and useful. Google Book Search helps readers 
discover the world's books while helping authors and publishers reach new audiences. You can search through the full text of this book on the web 

at |http: //books .google .com/I 



: THE MTJN8TER CIRCUIT. 

I TALES, TRIALS, AND TRADITIONS. 



BY 



J. R. O'FLANAGAN, 

BABBISTKB-AT-LAW, AUTHOR 01 " THB IRISH BAB,'* "LIVES OF THE LOBD 

CHANCELLORS OF IRELAND," ETC. 



(( 



Tales of war for lordly knif^jt, FEB 
Tales of love for lady brigT 
Trials of Witch to please 
Trials of blood the maids to 




HonHon : 
SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & RIVINGTON, 

CROWN BUTLDINGS, 188, FLEET BTBEST. 

1880. 
\All riffhts reserved.'] 



7'-. f- 7'i 




600062386V 



LONDON 
eiLBBST AND BITlNGTON, PBINTEBS, 
ST. JOHN'S SQUABS. 



TO THE FATHER 
AND MEMBERS OF THE MUNSTER BAR, 

WHO WORTHILT MAINTAIN THE BBNOWN 

OF THE MUNSTER CIRCUIT, 
S^t0 SSorh is ^ebicKteb 

BY THEIB POBMEB BBOTHEB, 

THE AUTHOR. 



PREFACE. 



A LEARNED and distinguished friend, thoroughly con- 
versant with legal subjects, a barrister and LL.D., 
wrote to me thus : — 

'^ We have a fair supply of forensic speeches, bio- 
graphy, and law, but scarcely any forensic literature. 
I hope you will continue to work the mine, which is a 
rich one/' 

As my " Irish Bar " has reached the second edition 
within six months from its first publication, and many 
regretted it was not enlarged, it has occurred to 
me to bring out, as a companion to this work, one 
entitled "The Munster Circuit/' Accordingly, I 
have prepared this present volume, containing trials 
of general interest, both civil and criminal, sketches 
of circuit towns, notices of Judges of Assize, and 
eminent Members of the Circuit, tales and traditions 
of the district, afEording information and amusement, 
not^merely for the professional, but for the general 
pabUc. 

The compilation of this work has shown me how 



vi Preface, 

every successive age presents mnch the same mixture 
of good and bad characters. That vice crops up 
where one would expect virtues to flourish, and that 
no rank, however noble or highly educated, is exempt 
from the outburst of passions which cause the perpe- 
tration of crime : — how the discovery of criminals is 
a proof of the mysterious wisdom of Providence. 
Many of the trials are as full of startling incidents 
as the most sensational work of fiction, ofben more 
so. 

An article in the ''Law Magazine and Law Re- 
view'^ for August, 1858, offered me some valuable 
suggestions for this work. I read, — 

" If our grave reporters of law cases would adopt 
a course intermediate between the loose, hurried, and 
inaccurate reports of the newspaper, and the very 
grave, and very dry professional reports, and with as 
much practical living interest as the case admits of, 
our people would welcome their work, and read them 
with quite as much interest as they do parliamentary 
and other reports. 

"It would not be without great benefit to the 
public, to the legislator, to the administrator, and to 
the profession, if the rich illustrations of actual life 
to be found in the reported cases, were stated in a 
popular manner, with some annotations, indicating 
where litigation springs, how much is due to the 
natural and inevitable play of human passions, to the 
neglect of the commonest rules of prudence, to the 



Preface. vii 

pedantic and unnatural adherence to technical rules 
belonging to a bygone period, to the carelessness of 
legislation, and the errors that arise from reference to 
carelessly written books/' 

Now, without going so systematically to work as 
the writer here recommends, I have, to a considerable 
extent, adopted his suggestions. In my selection of 
trials and traditions — especially the trials — I have 
endeavoured to give living interest to the scenes which 
are described by the vatnesses. I have selected, not 
so much leading cases illustrating legal principles, a& 
ordinary transactions, exemplifying the conduct of men 
in their daily lives, — the transactions of all ranks, high 
and low, rich and poor. They indicate the object that 
history should teach, viz. : how — by observing the re- 
sult of certain rash or criminal acts — to avoid their 
commission, and thus bear out the truth of the axiom, 
" History is Philosophy teaching by example.'' 

I have endeavoured, in all cases, whether of those 
wherein the litigants have passed away, or still survive, 
to do my teaching delicately, and cautiously deducing 
such inferences as may be useful to others in their 
future conduct, and proving how impossible it is to 
avoid often criminal responsibility for deviations from 
the path of rectitude. 

In selecting the field for my labours, it was natural 
I should choose that with which I was most familiar — 
the Munster Circuit. This in former, as well as recent 
times and now, numbered at its Bar men pre-eminent 



viii Preface. 

in public as well as professional reputation ; and, when 
one of these departed this life, I often thought how 
important it would be to possess some faithful record 
of his career. In some earlier papers I noticed the 
resemblance between the Nisi Prius lawyer and the 
actor. He is on the stage, playing his part. Struggling 
for his client with all the energies of his nature, his 
eloquence fills and delights the ear; his legal argu- 
ments, his subtle points, are often adopted by the 
Bench ; his cases are apposite, and the Court rules with 
him j juries, fascinated by his language, and the depth, 
clearness, and soundness of his arguments, and the 
ability with which he addresses them, give their 
verdict ; and the spectator leaves the court, impressed 
with the notion of the counsels unconmion talents, as 
he would the theatre, having witnessed the perform- 
ance of a consummate actor. 

Both off the stage, having left their respective 
scenes of action, the public lose sight of them. They 
live only in the society of their family and friends. 
While the theatrical critic notices the performance of 
the actor, the characteristics of the barrister are 
unnoticed, or only remembered by some one present 
when the hon mot was uttered, or the able argument or 
brilliant speech dehvered. If not reported in the 
public journals, there is rarely any trace; and, even in 
such cases, how transient it is — ^what we read in the 
newspaper to-day is effaced by the papers of to- 
morrow, and thus no permanent record remains. My 



Preface. ix 

object is, as far as in me Kes, to prevent this. My 
renearclies in Irish Legal History and Legal Biography, 
when compiling my Lites of the Lord Chancellors 
OP Ibeland, afforded me facilities for the preparation 
of the present work, a considerable portion of which 
appeared in the Dublin Uniyebsity Magazine from 
March to October, 1876. I then traced the Histoby 
OF THE Munsteb Cibcuit from the time of Queen 
Elizabeth to the reign of our Sovereign Lady Queen 
Victoria; but circumstances prevented me making the 
work as full as I intended, and, having the right of 
republication, I resolved to bring out the work in a 
more complete form. This I hope is now done. I 
trust the members of the legal profession in Ireland, 
to many of whom I owe great gratitude for their 
generous recognition of my literary works, will deem 
this volume worthy that support and distinction which 
has already been accorded to my former productions. 

J. R. OTlanaqan. 
Orange House, Fermoy. 

P.S. — I am indebted to his Grace the Duke of 
Devonshire for permission to avail myself of the records 
preserved in the Castle of Lismore, to which his Grace's 
most courteous agent, Mr. Currey, and his son, kindly 
facilitated my researches. I received much kind aid 
from the Rev. Canon Hayman, Rector of Douglas, 
county Cork, and W. J. Pitzpatrick, Esq., J.P., 
Dublin ; great help in my collection of anecdotes of the 



X Preface, 

Munster Circuit from my esteemed friend, Thomas 
Rice Henn, Q.O., Recorder and County Court Judge 
of Galway, and his cousin, Richard Griffith, Esq., of 
Millicent, county Cork, greatgrandson of Lord Chief 
Baron Walter Hussey Burgh; and likewise from a 
most promising member of the Munster Bar, whose 
early death was a cause of grief to a large circle of 
friends, Thomas Kelly, Esq., nephew of Edmond, first 
Baron Fermoy. 



— BBHPWP— ggBBii^WB— B—^—gW^Wi— 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

Henown of the Mnnster Circuit. — Munster under the Lord 
President. — FaitMul under Trials, a Tale of Queen 
Elizabeth's Reign. — Extent of the Munster Circuit. — 
Lord Deputy Perrot and Marshal Bagnal. — State of 
Munster from the Geraldines. — Confiscation. — Spenser 
and Raleigh. — Spenser at Kilcolman. — Burnt out . 1 

CHAPTER n. 

The White Knight's Vow. — A Tradition of the Desmond 
Wars. — Sarsfield's Rebellion. — Refusal to proclaim 
King James I. in Cork and Waterford ... 22 

CHAPTER III. 

Successive Presidents. — Incidents in the Life of the first 
Earl of Cork. — Plot and Counter-Plot. — A Disap- 
pointed Host. — Cromwell's Jests. — Fate of the Regi- 
cides. — ^A Charge to a Grand Jury .... 38 

CHAPTER IV. 
Trial of Florence Newton for Witchcraft .... 51 

CHAPTER V. 

Jacobite and Williamite Wars.— Sagacity of Sir Richard 
Cox, Consulting Counsel in 1715. — Convivial Habits 



xii Contents, 



PAGE 



of the Irish Bar. — Apartments in Hell. — Sir Toby 
Butler. — Feeing the Solicitor-General. — A Popish 
Discoverer baffled 64 

CHAPTEE yi. 

Sir Constantine Phipp. — Chief Justice Pyne. — A Corrupt 
Judge tricked. — Crimes on the Munster Circuit. — 
Abduction. — ^Abduction Clubs. — Case of the Misses 
Kennedy. — Trial and Conviction of the Culprits. — 
Sentence on Messrs. Kimberly and Meade. — Point 
raised by Mr. Kimberly overruled .... 76 

CHAPTER YII. 

Death and Lament for 0' Sullivan Beare. — Cork Barbers. 

—Assizes in 1764 and 1766.— Surviving the Halter . 95 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Success of the Fitz Gibbons at the Bar. — ^The First Lord 
Avonmore. — Scott, Earl of Clonmell. — Chief Justice 
Lord Carleton. — How Mr. O'Brien got possession of 
Clonamuckoge 101 

CHAPTER IX. 

Progress of John Philpot Curran at the Bar. — His Fee- 
Book. — First great Case on the Munster Circuit. — ^Duel 
with Captain St. Leger. — Judicial Exposition of 
Duelling. — Counsel's Readiness to fight. — Lord Chan- 
cellor Clare's Enmity to Curran. — Suicide of Baron 
Power 119 

CHAPTER X. 

State of Kerry and Cork in 1787. — Breaking out of Prison. 
—The Rebellion of 1798.— Diary of Wolfe Tone.— Sir 
Vesyan Pick, Mayor of Cork in 1796. — Henry and 
John Sheares. — Judge Day. — Tragical Death of Colo- 
nel FitzGerald.— Fate of the Hon. Miss King . . 132 



Contents. xiii 



CHAPTER XI. 

PAOB 

Leaders of the Circuit. — ^Mr. Burton. — Mr. Quin. — Mr. 
Lysaght. — Mr. Keller. — Mr. H. D. Grady. — Mr. 
Thomas Grady. — Mr. Bichard Pennefather. — ^Mr. 
Thomas Goold. — ^Mr. Waggett, and Sir William Mac- 
Mahon,Bart 149 



CHAPTER XII. 

Remarkable Trial of Sir Henry Brown Hayes for Abduc- 
tion of Miss Pike 162 



CHAPTER XTTT. 

The Murder of Colonel Hutchinson. — Conviction and Exe- 
cution of the Murderers 177 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Immorality Rebuked. — Case of the Rev. Charles Massey, 

V. the Marquis of Headfort 184 

CHAPTER XV. 

Course of the Munster Circuit. — Stage Coaches in the 
Eighteenth Oentury. — The Circuit. — Ennis. — Faction 
Fights. — Banim's Poem. — ^Anecdote. — Clare Legal 
Worthies. — Quin Abbey. — Creggan Tower. — Atter- 
bury Lodge. — Fatal Duels. — Bunratty Castle . . 209 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Limerick. — ^A witty waiter. — Latin version of the popular 
Bong "Garryowen." — ^The gardens of sweet Billy 
Carr. — Chief Baron O'Grady. — Hon. Judge O'Brien. 
— Right Hon. Judge Barry. — Harry Deane Grady.— 
The Cathedral. — How to check a fervid Preacher. — 
The Bell-founder 227 



xiv Contents. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

PAGl 

From Limerick to Tralee. — TraJee. — Anecdotes of O'Con- 
nell. — Kerry Barristers. — Cork. — Statues in Cork. — 
Eminent Judges. — ^Natives of Cork .... 246 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Trials and Judges of Assizes. — Courts Martial in 1798. — 
Judge Mayne and Charles Kendal Buslie. — Sir 
William Cusack Smith. — Judge Fletcher.— Lord 
Norbury and his brother Judges. — Retorts from the 
Bar. — Anecdotes. — ^Able Letter from Sir Arthur Wel- 
lesley (Duke of Wellington) . . . . .256 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Gallant defence of Highfort by Sir John Purcell. — Anec- 
dotes of him 272 

CHAPTER XX. 

Bruce v. Grady. — Plaintiff and Defendant. — ^The Nose- 
gay Trial. — A stage-struck Exciseman. — O'Connell 
on Circuit. — ^Trial of Scanlan for the Murder of the 
Colleen Bawn 279 

CHAPTER XXI. 
The tragical Fate of the Franks Family .... 300 

CHAPTER XXII. 

The Doneraile Conspiracy. — Impressive Statement of the 
Solicitor-Gteneral Doherty. — Conviction of the four 
Men first tried at the Special Commission in 1829 . 307 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

Doneraile Conspiracy continued. — O'Connell defends the 
remaining Prisoned. — His encounters with the Solici- 
tor-General. — ^End of the Special Commission . 323 



Contents, ^^ 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



PAOB 



Consequences of committing a Barrister. — Case of Mr. 
Croke of the Irish Bar. — Correspondence between the 
Magistrates and Lord Chancellor Hart . . . 338 

CHAPTER XXV. 

Eminent Members of the Mnnster Bar from 1838 to 1850. 
— Sergeant Jackson, M.P. — George Bennett, Q.C. — 
Mr. Collins, Q.C. — Mr. Henn, Q.C. — His first Brief 
on the Munster Circuit. — Mr. J. D. Fitzgerald. — Mr. 
Brereton. — Mr. Otway. — Mr. Isaac Butt. — Mr. Chat-, 
terton. — Mr. Wyndham Goold, M.P 350 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

Jndges on Circuit in 1840. — Anecdotes of Judge Ball. 
— Chief Baron Brady and Judge Burton. — Judge 
Burton's fondness for the works of Dickens. — For- 
bearance at Fermoy. — 0*Connell declines to meet the 
Judges at dinner 368 

CHAPTER XXVri. 

Jjord Justice Deasy. — His Career at the Bar. — Right Hon. 
Edward Sullivan, Master of the Rolls. — Progress as 
Leader at the Circuit. — Returned to Parliament as 
Member for Mallow in 1865. — Parliamentary Success. 
— Right Hon. Judge Lawson. — My first Acquaintance 
in 1843. — His Promotion. — Great Qualities at the Bar 
and on the Bench 376 

CHAPTER XXVin. 

Attempts to assassinate an Irish Land Agent. — Galtee 
Castle. — ^Increase in Rent. — The Agent fired at. — ^An 
iron Barrack. — The Ambuscade. — The Coachman 
shot. — Arrest, Trial, and Conviction of the Murderer. 
— Mr. Robinson, Q.C., Judge of Assize. — The Kilfinan 
Case.— The Youghal Ferry Case . . . .386 



xvi Contents, 



CHAPTER XXIX. 



PAGE 



Recreations of the Munster Bar. — Father Lyne. — Purcell 
O'Gorman. — John Anster, LL.D. — Judge Talfonrd.— • 
Literary Members of the Munster Bar. — The Blarney 
Banquet. — Theatricals in Limerick. — The present 
State of the Munster Bar 401 



THE MUNSTEE CIECUIT. 



CHAPTER I. 

Renown of the Hnnster Circnit. — ^Monster nnder the Lord 
Presidents. — Faithful nnder Trials : a Tale of Qaeen Eliza* 
beth's Eeign. — Extent of the Monster Circuit. — Lord' 
Deputy Perrott and Marshal Bagnal. — State of Mnnster 
from the Geraldines. — Confiscation. — Spenser and Baleigh. — 
Spenser at Kilcolman. — Burnt out. 

TflB MuNSTBB Circuit! What proud memories are 
associated with that name I What splendid eloquence^ 
high courage^ intrepid advocacy^ skilful pleadings^ are 
connected with its history ! To one born within the 
province— a member of its Bar — enjoying for many 
years the friendly intercourse of the distinguished 
body of practitioners attending each assizes^ tracing 
its history, tales, trials, and traditions will, assuredly, 
be a labour of love. 

I make no invidious comparisons between the 
Munster and other circuits ; but my esteemed friend, 
the late Mr. Daniel Owen Madden, has lefb in print 
this estimate of the Munster Bar :— -'' The Munster 
Bar has always ranked the first in Ireland. Its 
circuit takes rank, like the Northern in England. 



2 The Munster Circuit. 

Many barristers, without Soathem connexions, have 
joined it, from the opportunities it presents of 
finding amusement, political connexions, or the 
means of professional advancement. In Ireland, one 
has said everything for its favour when he reminds 
the listener that ' it was Currants circoit/ '* 

It is not easy to determine the precise period 
when Judges of Assize first went the Munster 
Circuit. We find, from the State Papers, that the 
Brehon laws were observed in most country districts 
of Ireland in 1537 ; but, in the reign of Queen 
Elizabeth, Munster was placed under the charge of 
a Lord President, with very ample judicial powers. 
He had authority to hear and determine all com- 
pMnts throughout the province, as well guildable 
as belonging to the franchises of corporations, and 
might send for and punish any officer against whom 
such complaint was made. The Presidents had com- 
mission of Oyer and Terminer, as well as of gaol 
deliveiy, of the whole province, and might hold 
their courts when and where they thought proper, 
with power to execute martial law upon all persons 
who had not 5Z. of freehold, or goods to the value 
of lOZ., and could prosecute any rebel with fire and 
sword, and for this purpose might array any number 
of the Queen^s loyal subjects. They could hear and 
determine all complaints against magistrates and 
officers, civil and military, throughout the province of 
Munster and the crosses and liberties of Tipperary 
and Kerry, and might punish the ofEenders at discre- 



1 « 



Beyelations of Ireland," p. 3. 



The Munster Circuit, 3 

tion. They had, also, authority to put persons accused 
of high treason to the torture, and to reprieve con-f 
demned persons. They were entitled to issue pro- 
clamations tending to the regulation of the Queen's 
subjects. 

Besides this very extensive jurisdiction in criminal 
cases, I find the President had as much in civil. He 
could entertain all suits, could confer knighthood, and 
was, in fact, a provincial Viceroy, just as the Lord 
Lieutenant was for the entire kingdom. 

The Lord President had his sergeant-at-arms, with 
his mace and his retinue, or escort, of thirty horse and 
twenty foot. He had his captain, and guidon, and 
trumpeter. His court was presided over by a chief 
justice and second justice. He had his attorney, clerk 
of the council, clerk of the crown, sergeant-at-arms, 
and provost-marshal. The cost of the establishment of 
Lord President of Munst-er in 1598 was 19512. 16«. SeZ. 
—a liberal sum in those days. 

Yet the office does not seem to have been a pleasant 
one. Sir John Perrott — appointed Lord President at 
the close of 1570 — had a troublesome time of it, and 
for his reward incurred the enmity of the fair sex as 
well as the male. Writing to Cecil, the Lord Presi- 
dent of Munster says, '^ Among the rest of my doings 
here, I have caused all the Irishry in this province to 
forego their glybbes ; and have waded into a further 
danger, as in banishing the great rolls from the wear- 
ing of ladies, gentlewomen, and all others of thesjD 
parts, by which means I am assured to have no wyfe 
in these places.'' 

The ungallant Lord President must have been the 

B 2 



4 The Munster Circuit 

" cold-hearted Saxon '' our national bard had in his 
thoughts when he wrote,-Tr 

'* And I'll gaze on thy gold hair, as graceful it wreathes, 
And hang on thy soft harp, as wildly it breathes ; 
Nor dread that the cold-hearted Sascon will tear 
One chord from that harp, or one lock from that hair." 

Whether the Deputy, Sir Henry Sidney, thought the 
Lord President, Sir John Perrott, somewhat deficient 
in his duties, or of attending to trivial matters — as in 
the case of the glibbes — ^I know not ; but that high 
functionary arrived in Cork in 1575, and, according to 
his own account, lost no time in executing the laws. 
He says, '^I caused daily session to be held in the 
city from the morrow after twelfth day to the last of 
January, in which appeared very honest and good 
juries, sound and good trials made by them. A number 
of civil causes heard and determined, and about twenty- 
four notable malefactors condemned and executed. 
Condon attainted and adjudged to die, yet stayed from 
execution, for, as the word goeth here, his fault was 
only small.^' 

Munster at this period was the property of several 
noble families, chiefly Anglo-Normans, others of Irish 
descent. The G^Briens ruled over Thomond, which 
comprised nearly the whole of Clare, with portion of 
Limerick : the puissant house of Ormond, the greater 
parts of Waterford and Tipperary. The Earl of 
Desmond had vast estates in the counties of Cork, 
Limerick, Tipperary, and Waterford. The Earl of 
Clancarthy ruled over the west of Cork and most of 
Kerry; while the Lords Barry, Roche, De Courcy, and 



The Munsier Circuit 5 

Danboyne were intermarried with the Irish races of 
MacCarthy, O'SuUiyan, O'Callaghan, MacDonogh^ 
(yLoghlen^ Macnamara^ and other Celtic chiefs of 
the province. 

Sometimes Irish young ladies would refuse to wed 
out of their own country. A story to illustrate this 
national preference may be termed fairly, 

Faithful tJNDBB Trials. 
A Tale of Queen Elizabeth's Beign. 

Queen Elizabeth, though unwed herself, was a great 
matchmaker, and took vigorous measures in love, as 
in politics or war, to gain her ends. When Sir Thomas 
Norreys was Vice-President of Munster, Lady Ellen 
MacCarthy, only daughter of the Earl of Clancarthy, 
was the hells of the President's Court. Young, beau- 
tiful, and accomplished, this lovely girl was the greatest 
heiress of her time. By the death of her only brother. 
Lord Yalentia, she became the apparent heiress to the 
immense possessions of her family in Carbery, Mus- 
kerry, and Duhallow. We make no doubt this, in 
addition to her personal charms, caused many to sue 
for her hand. The Lady Ellen was deaf to the solici- 
tations of haughty knights and puissant English lords,* 
who sought her, for she had already bestowed her 
heart's afTections upon a gallant young Irishman, 
Florence MacCarthy. They had been much together 
in childhood, played, rambled, and followed the chase 
side by side in the woods, glens, and over the rugged 
hills of wild Carbery. He was a youth of comely pre- 
sence and knightly bearing, and attracted the eye of 



6 The Munster Circuit 

England's Sovereign, who desired to liave handsome 
men in her train. As the poet said regarding Sir 
Christopher Hatton, — - 

" His bnshj beard, and shoestrings green, 
His high-crown'd hat, and satin doublet, 
Moved the stout heart of England's Queen, 
Though Pope or Spaniard vcould not trouble it." 

So Florence MacOarthy was employed in the Court 
of the Queen, while the object of his devoted aflfec- 
tion was exposed to the assiduous attentions of the 
crowd of suitors she attracted around her in Ireland, 

The Vice-President of Munster, Sir Thomas Norreys, 
was not insensible to the charms of the beautiful young 
lady, or the extent of her fortune. He was well known 
as a brave and distinguished soldier, and possessed of 
that urbanity of manner, and love of literature, so 
conspicuous at the present day in his excellent descen- 
dant. Sir Denham Norreys, Bart. But, despite his 
worth, though backed by the influence of Sir Warham 
St. Leger, President of Munster, he failed to gain Lady 
Ellen^s heart. 

Another suitor was Nicholas Browne, son of Sir 
Valentine Browne, who contrived to enlist for his son 
the powerful influence of the Queen. He had an addi- 
tional argument, which was sometimes used with success. 
He held a mortgage over the estates of the Earl of 
Clancarthy, and, putting on the screw, the lady^s 
father tried to gain, from filial devotion, the daughter's 
consent. But this effort also was unavailing. She 
said '^she was not inclined to marry any English 
gentleman ;'' and, when the Queen sent a request. 



The Munster Circuit. 

which most read as a command, " for Lady Ellen to 
marry Master Nicholas Browne,'^ * the spirited young 
lady started at once for the Court of the Lord Presi- 
dent, and protested against the Boyal mandate. She 
"denied the Queen^s right to coerce a noble Irish 
maiden to contract such an alliance. Why should the 
daughter of Clancarthy's noble earl espouse the son of 
a mere baronet ?'' The argument seemed to have 
weight with the Lord President. He wrote to Sir 
Francis Walsingham, then Secretary of State, '' that the 
match ought not to be pressed.^^ He comforted the 
agitated girl with the assurance " that it did not stand 
with the course of her Majesty's blessed Government 
that any should be forced to marry against their wills.'* 
It is very probable that Florence MacCarthy, then 
sojourning at head-quarters, knew how far her 
Majesty's blessed Government would allow the young 
lady any will in the matter; for he very speedily 
returned to Ireland, sought his beloved kinswoman, 
and made such representations to her that she imme- 
diately consented to be his wife, and, in a few days, the 
news reached Cork that Florence MacCarthy and Lady 
Ellen were man and wife.' Then the haughty Queen 
showed what her will was. She got into a passion, 
ordered the arrest of bride and bridegroom, of the 
Countess of Clancarthy, and all who were concerned 
in what she styled '^ this contemptuous action." So 
Florence and his lately-wedded wife were seized, and 
spent their honeymoon in Cork Gaol. They had, it 
seems, a good-natured gaol^, for Sir Valentine Browne 

' Ancestor of the Earls of Kenmare. 



8 The Munster Circuit. 

complains in lagabrioas terms^ that indicate how 
woefully he was disappointed in not having the well- 
dowered Lady Ellen for daughter-in-law, in a letter to 
Walsingham, that, "at Corcke, Florence, with the 
EarPs daughter, remaynethe with small restraynthe, 
and rather rejoyceth with banquettings than seemeth 
sorrie/' 

This caused a sad parting. Florence's 

'* Living in clover, alas, was soon over." 

He was committed to the Tower of London, and the 
disconsolate bride kept in durance in Cork. 

But she was resolved to seek a restitution of con- 
]ugal rights. She contrived to enlist the aid of one of 
her guards, and was supplied with peasants' dresses 
for herself and her maid. Thus disguised, they effected 
their escape from Cork, and eluded the vigilant search 
which the Lord President caused to be made for their 
recovery. At length Lady Ellen appeared, in about 
the last place one would seek her — the Court of Queen 
Elizabeth. She besought her Majesty to pardon her 
husband and herself. She pleaded earnestly for this 
boon. She told of their mutual affection, their con- 
fidence and faith in each other under severe trials and 
temptations. The Queen was steeled against pity. The 
unhappy Lady Ellen suffered much. Her means were 
exhausted. The rents of her husband were stayed, the 
remittances of her family were intercepted, and she was 
left, bereft of friends or means, in the capital of 
England. She was sorely tempted. The Queen took 
the opinion of the law officers on the marriage of these 



The Munster Circuit 9 

minors^ and it was declared null and void. Proceedings 
for divorce were instituted^ but the brave young Irish 
girl disclaimed being a consenting party to these pro- 
ceedings^ and declared she would die sooner than give 
up her husband. Her constancy won her the esteem 
of Lord Burleigh^ and his counsels had weight with the 
Queen. She yielded at last^ and Florence^ released 
from the Tower^ clasped to his heart his long-lost^ but 
ever-constant. Lady Ellen MacGarthy. 

The Munster Circuit — first provincial — comprehends 
now the counties of Clare, Limerick, Kerry, and Cork. 
Li the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the status of Clare 
was unsettled. In reply to a letter from the Queen^ 
dated 4th July, 1562, recommending the then Viceroy, 
the Earl of Sussex, to establish provincial courts for 
the Presidencies of Connaught, Ulster, and Munster, 
the Viceroy recommended ''that Clare should not 
be within the Presidencies of either Connaught or 
Munster, but that the Earl of Thomond, Chief of 
Glare, should be as the person lying between both 
Presidencies, and should be a member of both 
councils, ready to assist either, as circumstances might 
require/' ' 

The first attempt to hold a court in the county of 
Glare seems to have been attended with danger to the 
President of Conuaught. The Earl of Thomond refused 
to attend, and though the President, Sir Edward 
Fitton, held the court in the Franciscan Abbey at 
Ennis, in 1570, the sacredness of the place, or of the 
nature of his office, formed no protection to the Lord 

» Carew MSS., 329. 



10 The Munster Circuit 

President, for he was so nnpopnlar lie was obliged to 
place himself under the protection of the Sheriff of 
Thomond, who conducted him back to Galway without 
delay. 

In 1576 Clare was joined to Munster; but, in the 
year 1579, again restored to the jurisdiction of the 
Court of the President of Connaught. * This arrange- 
ment, however, was not found satisfactory to the Earl 
of Thomondj for I find that, in a.d. 1602, on the 
petition of that nobleman, the county of Clare was 
once more detached from the jurisdiction of the Pre- 
sident's Court of Connaught, and united to Munster, to 
which it now belongs. 

I find that Sir John Perrott, when removed from the 
office of President of Munster, and made Lord Deputy, 
as the Viceroy was then called, went from the frying- 
pan into the fire. He petitioned the Queen to relieve 
him of an office '' which the perverseness of her subjects 
in Ireland of the English race had rendered intolerable. 
" I find I can please your Majesty's Irish subjects better 
than the English, who, I fear, will shortly learn the 
Irish customs sooner than the Jews did those of the 
Hebrews." If the Lord Deputy had many altercations 
like that related in Gibson's " History of Cork,''* his 
life cannot have been a very tranquil one. '^It is 
not," says the reverend historian, *' surpassed in the 
Southern States of America. The 15th of May, 1587, 
very angry words passed between the Lord Deputy 
and Sir Nicholas Bagnal, Marshal, in the presence of 
the Chief Justice, the Master of the Bolls, and the 

< " Lib. Munerum Hib." 
* Vol. i. p. 216. 



The Munster Circuit, 1 1 

Secretary of State, upon occasion that one Patrick 
Gullan (who used to go into England in the name of 
O^Neal, with complaints to her Majesty against the 
Lord Deputy) was ordered to be examined before the 
Council. The Marshal requested that the Lord Deputy 
should not be present at the examination ; upon which 
the Lord Deputy, taking it ill to be directed by him, 
told him, ' that though he would not be present at it 
he would do what he thought fit ! ' 

"The Marshal replied: 'He mistrusted false mea- 
sures would be used/ 

'' The Deputy said : ' He defy^d him, or any other 
man, who should think any false measure should come 
by him/ 

The Marshal said : ' He defyM him also/ 
Hereupon the Deputy, with the flat of his hand, 
touched his cheek once or twice, and laying his other 
hand on his right shoulder, said : ' Well, well. Marshal, 
if you def y^d a man in my place in another country, he 
would have hanged you/ 

''The Marshal hereat held up his stafE, as if he 
would have struck the Deputy, but Mr. Fenton, the 
Secretary, and Sir Nicholas White, Master of the 
Bolls, interposing themselves, the Marshal fell back, 
and, rising up, said : ' It will be proved you have done 
ill in this matter.^ 

" The Lord Deputy : ' Tou lye, if you say I have 
done ill in this matter/ 

" Marshal : ' You lie ^ — and, correcting himself, ' If 
you were not Lord Deputy I would say you lie; but I 
care not for Sir John Perrott.' 

" The Deputy replied : * If I were but Sir John 






12 The Munster Circuit 

Perrott I would te^h you to use me thus j and if you 
did not dote I would commit you to prison/ 

'^ ' If you do/ answered the Marshal^ ' I would come 
out whether you would or no/ 

*' The Lord Deputy said : ' Get you hence, for 'tis 
no reason to talk with you ; for a man would think you 
Were drunk/ 

'' ' You are drunk/ replyM the Marshal. 

'' What was the end of this discourse is not known, 
nor the cause of it, only to believe that the Marshal 
was a great friend to Cullan/' • 

The quondam Lord President of Munster had 
incurred the enmity of several of the high officials, 
and often used strong words in reference to the Queen, 
his reputed half-sister, for he was an illegitimate son 
of Henry VIII. These words formed a ground of 
impeachment for high treason, on which he was found 
guilty and sentenced to death. He attributed his con-* 
viction to the enmity of Sir Christopher Hatton, whom 
he styled a carpet knight; and when he heard his 
sentence, exclaimed, ^' God's death I will my sister 
sacrifice her brother to his frisking adversaries?'^ 
When she heard these words, so like what she would 
have used herself, she refused to sign his death- 
warrant, saying, '' They be all knaves who condemned 
him/' And when pressed with his saying of herself, 
'^ That fiddling woman troubles me out of measure ; it 
is not safe for her Majesty to break such sour bread 
to her servants" — remembered the rescript of the 
Emperor Theodosius, which, she said, should rule this 

« Gibson's " History of Cork," vol. i. p. 216. 



TJte Munster Circuit. 13 

case. '' If any man speak ill of tHa Emperor through 
a foolish rashness or inadvertency, it is to be despised ; 
if out of madness^ it deserves pity ; if from malice^ it 
calls for mercy/' ^ Her mercy did not avail the 
condemned knight^ for Sir John Perrott died in the 
Tower. 

The next Monster Circuit I find on record was that 
of Sir William Drury, who, in 1576, like Sir Henry 
Sydney, took a circuit of all the great towns in 
Munster, to confirm laws and regulations. He de- 
stroyed malefactors and robbers, and put to death 
Barrett, of Cork, and two noble and distinguished 
young constables, of the tribe of Maolmurry, or 
MacSweeny. He proceeded thence to Limerick, 
where he hung a number of chiefs and of the common 
people. 

The Rev. Mr. Gibson considers it was during this 
tour the Earl of Desmond invited Sir William to pay 
him a visit at his castle at Tralee, intending to make 
him prisoner. The Deputy went, escorted by 120 men. 
The Earl's retinue was a trifle more numerous, if not so 
warlike, numbering 800 Galloglasses, or heavy-armed 
soldiers, and Kerns, as the light infantry were called. 
It would appear as if the Earl of Desmond was not 
present with his men, for when the Lord President, 
not liking their array in his path, charged through the 
Irish forces and reached the castle, he was received, 
not by the lord, but by his lady. 

The Deputy demanded, '^ Why so many armed bands 
guarded the approach to the castle 7 '' 

7 Lord Campbeirs *' Lives of the Lord Chancellors of Eng- 
land," vol. ii. p. 168. 



14 The Munster Circuit, 

The lady seemed amased at his trepidation^ and 
assured him that what he mistook for hostile forces 
was only a hunting party^ and that instead of intend- 
ing to dispute his approach^ they only meant to welcome 
him to Kerry. 

This explanation satisfied^ or^ at leasts was deemed 
sufficiently satisfactory by the Deputy. But that 
official had too much kuowledge of the disaffection of 
the Desmond race to be easily imposed upon. Ere 
long they raised the standard of revolt^ and James 
Pitzmaurice, the Earl's cousin^ brought over Spanish 
and Italian forces, who ravaged Munster. Thereupon, 
Captain Malby, President of Connaught, was sent as 
Vice-President into Munster to assist Sir William 
Drury during the war. This was a.d. 1579. 

Sir William suffered some reverses, which naturally 
preyed upon his mind. A fierce engagement took 
place between his troops and those of the Geraldines 
at Springfield, in which he was defeated, nearly all his 
band of 400 men cut to pieces, and three of his captains 
(Herbert, Eustace, and Price) slain. He left Kilmal- 
lock ill, and, surrendering the command to Captain 
Malby, was conveyed in a carriage to Waterford, where 
he died. 

For several years Munster was a battle-field, the 
forces of the Geraldines making a desperate resistance 
against the troops of Queen Elizabeth; but in 1584, 
when Sir John Norris was President, the Earl of 
Desmond was slain in a battle in the county of Kerry, 
his adherents dead or scattered, and a general peace 
was proclaimed throughout Ireland in general, and the 
two provinces of Mimster in particular — that is to say. 



The Munster Circuit. i S 

the part of Munster south of the Blackwater, and 
North Munster, between the Blackwater and Limerick. 
Of these provinces a large portion was, by the attainder 
of the Earl of Desmond, forfeited to the Crown. His 
territory extended from Duncasin, in Kerry, to the 
meeting of the Suir, Nore, and Barrow, in Wat^rford, 
and from the Great Island — ^now the site of Queens- 
town, county of Cork — to Limerick; a country con- 
taining a million of acres, of which 574,628 were, by 
special Act of Parliament, passed in 1S83, declared 
confiscated to the Crown. 

Among those Englishmen who, as undertakers, 
obtained large grants of the forfeited estates of the 
Earl of Desmond, two are especially renowned in 
literature — Sir Walter Baleigh and Edmund Spenser. 
Baleigh also distinguished himself by dashing exploits 
during the Desmond wars. His escape from the 
seneschal of Imokilly, and his capture of Lord Boche, 
are deeds worthy the fame of a knight-errant. He 
obtained an enormous tract of the Desmond country, 
along the valley of the Blackwater, from Lismore to 
Youghal, in which town he occupied a residence, still 
in excellent preservation, called Myrtle Grove, and 
which, I understand, has lately become the property, 
by purchase, of Mr. Pope Hennessy, who is engaged 
in collecting curiosities for a museum, to illustrate) 
I presume, the remarkable cai'eer of Sir Walter 
Baleigh. 

Edmund Spenser was also one of the undertakers. 
He came to Ireland as secretary to Lord Gray, in 
1580, and, having made himself useful to the Govern- 
ment, obtained a grant of 3000 acres of the forfeited 



1 6 The Munster Circuit. 

estates of the Earl of Desmond. His grant was 
sitaated on the north part of the county of Cork. 
Here he occupied the Castle of Kilcolman, about 
midway between the towns of Doneraile and Butteyant 
—now a picturesque, ivy-mantled ruin, on the lands of 
Ballyvonere. Here he composed his great work, the 
'^ Faerie Queene '' and a number of minor poems. He 
was visited here by his friend Sir Walter Baleigh, on 
which occasion he composed the poem, ^* Colin Clout's 
come Home again,'' a work of much interest, from its 
accurate description of the topography and scenery of 
the neighbourhood. Had Spenser confined his writing 
to poetry it had been better for his fame, but he did 
not. He wrote a treatise called " A View of the State 
of Ireland," which lay in manuscript from 1596 until 
published by Sir James Ware in 1685. The horrible 
mode he advocated for civilizing the country, by getting 
rid of the inhabitants, does little credit to his head or 
heart. If he allowed such visions to escape him, and 
they were disclosed to the Irish people, we cease to 
wonder at the terrible fate which ended his residence at 
Ejlcolman. This is very graphically described by a 
valued reverend friend of mine, so I prefer giving his 
account to my own :— 

^' Kilcolman Castle is now a ruin, and a fast-perishing 
one. There are no signs about it of past glories in 
architecture or gardener's skiU, and the very traces of 
fire have been washed by the elements, and the memo* 
rials of the poet's ruin have passed away along with the 
tokens of his joy. But Mulla " flows past it now as it 

* The river Awbeg is poetically called the ^' Mulla" by 
Spenser. 



The Munster Circuit. 17 

did theiij and the everlasting hills still keep their watch 
over the stem old building. The slippery staircase of 
stone is yet perfect/ which Raleigh and Spenser often 
trod up and down together; and there is a deep- 
recessed window^ with a stone seat on each side^ and a 
view from it of a wide-spreading tract of champagne 
country^ and we could fancy the poet (as old Aubrey^ 
in his ' Lives/ has painted him), a little man wearing 
short hair^ with laced shirt- collar and cuffs^ seated on 
one of these seats; and opposite to him his Elizabeth, 
with those fayre golden tresses he so much loved. 

'' It was a lovely evening in the autumn of the year, 
and the sun was westering his course towards the 
remote hills^ and that young couple sat together, 
watching, with unspeakable rapture, the magnificent 
sun^s going down, and the declining rays glistened on 
the surface of a small, calm lake near them, and, farther 
ofi^ were multiplied in the waters of the Mulla, which 
sparkled in them like burnished silver. Then, like a 
dark curtain^ darkness was slowly drawn over the 
prospect, and, after a little while, were heard tones of 
the evening hymn, and a low, calm voice pleaded 
humbly in prayer ; and, soon after, all sounds ceased, 
and the inmates of the castle were hushed in repose. 
Then succeeded an hour or two of stillness, and, after 
that, was borne on the night-wind the tramp of 
a thousand feet; louder they grew, and yet louder^ 
as they drew near that lonely building. And rude 
knocking was heard at the gate, and the passage was 
forced in, and lights flared up on all sides ; and there 
were shrieks^ and groans^ and commingling cries of 
men engaged in fierce battle. Savage numbers pre- 



1 8 The Munster Circuit. 

vailed, and applications for mercy were met by the 
sweep of the broadsword or the thrust of the skein, o» 
the low, short laugh of derision. And the tumult grew 
less, and the cries died away, and then all was hushed 
in the silence of death, 

'^ Then came a vision of a rough and stormy ocean^ 
and a struggling bark was wildly contending on it 
with the mad tempest. And there were terrified fugi- 
tives crouching low on her deck, and looking with 
eager eyes towards a blue, low-lying shore they were> 
with difficulty, approaching. And then the scene 
changed to a plainly-furnished room, in an inferior 
street; and the wanderers were there, and knew of 
their safety ; but the strong man^s cheek was flushed 
with disease, the fever was feeding upon his strength, 
his head was sick, and his heart was broken. 

"And then, in a gorgeous aisle of a reverend 
Minster, we saw a crowd assemble, and a grave was 
dug, and a long procession issued from a low-arched 
door near at hand, and proceeded towards the grave. 
And the nobles of the land were there, and poets read 
their eulogies of the deceased, and cast the verses, and 
the pens that wrote them, into the pit. And then 
there was the rumbling of earth upon the coffin-lid, 
and the hollow thumping of the sexton's spade, and 
suppressed sobs and tears, the dying away of depart- 
ing footsteps — dust and ashes-'— and the earthly clay of 
what was Edmund Spenser remained — ^to wait the 
trumpet of the Resurrection Day.'' 

Spenser's widow, who regained the Kilcolman estate, 
married, in 1603, Mr. Roger Seckerstone. Sylvanus, 
the poet's eldest son, obtained an inquisition, which 



The Munster Circuit* 1 9 

was taken at Mallow, on the Munster Circuit, on the 
7th of August, 1611 . By a copy of the finding of the 
jury, now before me, I observe the jurors presented — 
'' That portions of the seignory, granted by patent by 
the late Queen Elizabeth, unto Edmund Spenser, late 
of Kiloolman, in the county of Cork, Esq., deceased, 
fifter his death descended unto Sylvanus Spenser, his 
son, and heir, who doth now possess the same — ^viz., the 
Castle of Kilcolman, with ceo acres of land p. ell of the 
said seignory, being the demesne lands of the same/' 
It then goes on to recite the various other denomina- 
tions of land, and their acreage, tenants' names, 
rents, &c., with any particulars of which it is unneces- 
sary to load our pages. 

It may, however, be interesting to learn that Syl- 
vanus Spenser married the eldest daughter of David 
Nagle, of Monanimy Castle, on the banks of the Black- 
yirater, county of Cork, and her grandniece was the 
mother of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke. The 
Eev. Mr. Gibson suggests that the great statesman was 
called Edmund after the poet. For a full account of 
the poet Spenser's descendants, vide Rev. Mr. Gibson's 
*' History of Cork," vol. i., chapter xvi. 

Sir Thomas Norris, President of the two provinces 
of Munster, and his brother. Sir John Norris, made a 
raid into Ulster in. 1595. They marched to Newry, 
and passed from thence towards Armagh. When they 
had proceeded about half-way, they were met by the 
Irish forces, who proceeded to annoy, shoot, pierce, and 
spear them. The General, Sir John, and Sir Thomas 
were wounded upon that occasion. 

Soon after this, Sir Thomas Norris returned to Cork, 

c 2 



20 The Munster Circuit 

and held a courts when^ in 1596, Conor O^Brien was 
convicted of stealing cattle, in the great wood near 
Charleville, and hung. The President fell in battle in 
1599. Thomas Borke, of CastleconnelL who was then 
in rebellion, met the President within two miles of 
Pallas Green, in the county of Limerick. The Pre- 
sident fell mortally wounded from the thrust of a pike, 
where the jawbone joins the upper part of the neck/ 

In 1600, Sir Warham St. Leger, President of 
Munster, met his death as he and some other officers 
were riding for recreation near Cork. Within a mile 
of the city. Sir Warham St. Leger and one of his 
servants, straggling from his company, were suddenly 
charged upon by Hugh Maguire, Lord of Fermanagh, 
a commander of cavalry, under O'Neill. ^^ Sir Warham 
discharged his pistol, and shot the traytor, and hee 
^St. Leger) was strucken with the other (Maguire's) 
horseman^s staff in the head, of which wound hee dyed, 
but none else on either side was slain.'' ^ 

The next President of Munster was the cautious and 
crafty statesman. Sir George Carew. His policy was 
to set the Irish chiefs against each other, and thus 
weaken them, so they could be easily dealt with. He 
caused James Fitzgerald, Earl of Desmond, who had 
been for sixteen years a prisoner in the Tower, to be 
released and brought to Ireland. On his arrival at 
Kilmallock, long the chief seat of the Desmonds, and 
at this day displaying traces of its great magnificence 
in lofty castles and stately mansions, he was welcomed 
with enthusiasm. The tenants and adherents of this 

• Gibson's "History of Cork," vol. i. p. 317. 
1 "PacataHibemia." 



The Munster Circuit. 2 1 

pnissant family flocked to hail his coming — ^the yoang 
men and maidens^ the old followers and their families^ 
met him on the outskirts of the town. The windows 
of the houses which overlooked the streets^ the tops of 
the roofs, were thronged with eager spectators, and 
shouts of wishes for his prosperity greeted the approach 
to his ancestral halls of the young Earl of Desmond. 

Short-lived was the welcome to the Earl. The next 
day was Sunday, and, instead of proceeding, as his 
ancestors had done, to the Catholic church, where they 
always heard Mass, he went to the Protestant church. 
The joy of the people at his coming was turned into 
grief for his forsaking the creed of his family. They 
coTild not restrain their manifestations of anger and 
disgust. On his way back from the Protestant church, 
accompanied by the Archbishop of Cashel, both he and 
the Archbishop were hooted, hissed, and insulted. ' 

This terminated the Earl's career in Ireland. He 
had failed to win the people. The President sent him 
back to Queen Elizabeth, who recommitted him to the 
Tower, where he died in a few months. 

« Ibid. 



22f The Munster Circuit. 



CHAPTER II. 

The White Knight's Vow.— A Tradition of the Desmond 
Wars. — Sars field's Rebellion.—- Eefusal to proclaim King 
James I. King in Cork and Waterford. 

The fate of the remaining Earl of Desmond, com- 
monly called the '^ Sugan Earl/^ was little less bitter. 
Hunted from house to house-;— outlawed as a traitor, 
he sought refuge in a mountain cave in the territory 
of FitzGibbon, usually termed the '' White Knight/' 
The President, who was made acquainted with this 
circumstance of the outlawed earl's place of shelter, 
which was unknown to the White Knight, sent a trusty 
soldier. Sir Walter Raleigh, to discover the retreat of 
the outlawed earl, and arrest him, if possible. I have 
described what took place in the following tale, called 

The White Knight's Vow. 

Evening closed round the Castle of Kilbenny; the 
day had been sultry, every object around was distinct 
to the sight, and every sounds struck the ear in that 
deathlike stillness in which nature is wrapt when the 
summer heat prevails. The shades of coming night 
seemed to increase the size of the towers, while wreaths 
of ivy growing on the battlements, were silvered by the 
moonlight as it glanced through the thickly-loopholed 



TIu Munster Circuit. 23 

walls, or flickered from the deep muUioned windows. 
To the right flowed the river Puncheon, sweeping 
round the lawn of the castle ; to the left were brown 
forests, climbing the mountain's side, while, beyond 
their dark masses, ridge rose above ridge, height 
mounted on height, of the lofty Oaltees. In the 
majesty of array Kilbenny Castle, thus seen from a 
distance, caused a travel-stained horseman, who had 
hitherto urged his gallant grey at a rapid pace, to draw 
rein, and admire the scene. He was a well-built, 
soldierly-looking man, in the prime of life, his coun- 
tenance noble and full of dignity, to which his elabo- 
rately-trimmed moustache and peaked beard contri- 
buted. His attire denoted his calling a martial one. 
Over his doublet glanced a steel breastplate, while 
thick bufE gloves came high on his arms; plates of 
armour protected his thighs, and were met at the knees 
by long trooper's boots. A broad-brimmed hat, looped 
at one side with a richly -jewelled buckle, from which 
a plume of white ostrich feathers gaily fluttered, gave 
an air of gallantry to a bearing bold and chivalrous. 
The rider was well armed; heavy silver-mounted 
pistols protruded from the holsters of his saddle ; the 
long rapier of the Tudor days hung by his side, while 
a short dagger, called in the days of knight-errantry 
misericordej was fastened in his gold-embroidered 
belt. 

*' By our Virgin Queen ! " soliloquised the soldier, 
"but our doubtful ally, the White Ejiight, has a noble 
stronghold.'' | 

He suffered his eyes to wander slowly over the lovely 1 

landscape, as though it was a pleasure to rest them on 



24 The Munster Circuit. 

the green fields^ the wild^ undulating hills^ and the 
foliage of summer boughs. 

''How sweetly my gentle Spenser tuned his verse 
to praise this scenery in his 'Faerie Queene/ But 
these lawless villains would not suffer him to dwell 
amongst them. They burned the roof over his head — 
drove him forth with wife and babes— and now my 
poor Spenser sleeps with the poets of old.'' 

The tear which rolled down the bronzed cheek of the 
stranger^ as he thought of the fate of his countryman 
and friend^ told of a sensitive heart; yet he dashed 
it hastily aside^ and^ as though ashamed of the momen- 
tary weakness^ struck his spurs in the flanks of his 
gallant steed^ and resumed his rapid course. 

In good time had he done so. A ripple of the river 
beside him showed a breeze was blowing from the 
hills; clouds drove rapidly athwart the sky; the mists 
rolled from the valleys^ and rain began to fall. A vivid 
flash of lightning shone through the gloom^ and dis« 
closed the gate of the castle close at hand. 

While the mounted cavalier approached the walls 
from the west, two foot-men advanced from the 
opposite direction. Despite the haste both made to 
escape the coming storm, they walked not abreast; 
one, considerably the elder, remained a pace or two 
behind his companion, whom he addressed with marked 
deference. 

" How fortunate we were to accomplish our work,'' 
observed the younger man. 

"True for you, FitzGibbon," replied the other; 
" but, ochofixe I what a place for the likes of him ! In- 
stead of his grand castles, and his company of knights 



■p>OT^"^>"""M9wemn^BiiaH«B«vH«acai9apve!OTinnMV« 



The Munster Circuit. 25 

and nobles^ to be lodged in the Gave of Slievegortj jnst 
as thongh he was a badger^ or a Toodereen ruai^ and 
shore^ he jnst is mn to earth.'' 

" Well, Shawn/ cheer np. Who knows what may 
come when the White Knight takes heart again. He 
is now in dread of his own safety. Hark ! is not that a 
bugle sound V^ 

They had reached a small wicket, leading into the 
Castle, as they heard a shrill blast, as of some one out- 
side the drawbridge gate* 

" There it is again ! '' said the young man, '' and as 
I live, I wot well whose cursed lips brought out that 
note. I heard it before to-day.'' 

''Whose, my young master?" whispered Shawn. 

" That insolent minion of England's Queen who lately 
got three whole baronies of my hunted kinsman's pro- 
perty, and has therefore good reason to seek his life. 
Curse him!" 

''Sir Walter Ealeigh?" 

" The same— I think," said the youth, as they retired 
within the castle. 

The parly at the entrance-gate called forth the 
lord of the castle, who greeted the horseman with 
marked courtesy. Soon a repast, in which quantity, 
if not quality, denoted the larder of Kilbenny well 
provided, satisfied the appetite of the guest, and he 
was well supplied with food and wine by his venerable 
companion. 

Edmund PitzGibbon, popularly called the White 
Knight, from the colour of his armour, was nearly 

1 Fox. Literally, " red dog." 
2 John. 



26 The Munster Circuit, 

allied to the noble houses of Kildare and Desmond. 
While professing amity with the English colonists, 
he was suspected of favouring the Earl of Desmond, 
who had thrown off his allegiance, and whose vast 
forfeited lands were the spoil of the adherents of Queen 
Elizabeth. 

"Now, White Knight/' said the guest, '^ having 
done justice to your good cheer, I must beseech thee 
to do justice to thyself. Where hast thou hid the 
traitor Desmond ?*' 

"I! Sir Walter ?'' demanded the chieftain, in a 
tone of surprise. *' I have had no communication 
with Desmond since I took the oath of fealty/^ so help 
me heaven ! '^ 

His companion looked at the speaker with an air of 
incredulity. 

" Clan Gibbon,^' said the younger man, " I am loth 
to let slip any word hurtful to your age and rank; 
but if another said so my answer would be short. I 
cannot believe that you are ignorant that the arch- 
rebel is now in your territory.' ' 

'^ I am utterly ignorant of it, on my hopes of salva- 
tion ! '' replied the chief. 

'^ How can that be, when we have sure tidings to 
the contrary? A party of my Lord Barry's soldiers 
stole upon the earl ere yesterday; they came upon 
him at supper, and he escaped without his mantle, 
so close were the pursuers. They actually tracked him 
into those very glens of yours, and I am now deputed 
by the Lord President to say that he holds you 
answerable, with life and lands, if you let him slip 
through your fingers. He bade me tell you he reckons 



wm^mmmmammamsmmmmmmmsi^mmmmammm 



The Munster Circuit. 27 

it most culpable in you to continue succour and 
shelter to our common foe^ and one who has so often 
disquieted the reign of our Sovereign Lady the Queen ; 
and he regards you. Clan Gibbon, bodily accountable 
for any fault in your men who may be accessory to 
the earFs escape, by reason of your neglect in pursuing 
him/' 

'^That you have tidings of Desmond being on my 
territory, I do not gainsay, since you vouch it, Sir 
Walter Raleigh,^' replied the knight; ''but I swear 
to you, on my allegiance, the fact is wholly unknown 
to me/' 

"I would prefer some better assurance than a tie 
which binds thee so loosely. Clan Gibbon,'' replied 
Baleigh, while the knight winced beneath his cutting 
words. 

"Well, Baleigh," cried the veteran, "from you 
at least, the taunt comes badly; as you must testify 
how I stood by you. Remember the challenge I 
bore to the seneschal of Imokilly, for the passage 
of arms between him and his captains, and Ormond 
with four of us. But, since the past is forgotten 
hear my vow. I vow to you, Raleigh, that ere to- 
morrow's sun sets, I shall deliver Desmond into 
thy hands — alive or dead — if he be in my country* 
or else I deliver myself to be dealt with as 
beseems fit to the Queen's Majesty. Here's my 
hand ! " 

"I accept the conditions. White Knight," re- 
joined Raleigh, clasping the extended palm ; " and I 
am told to promise, if you succeed in capturing Des- 
mond, a thousand pounds of gold are thine. To enable 



28 The Munster Circuit. 

thee to rise betimes in thy search^ let ns seek our 
chambers ; so, good night ! ^^ 

The host summoned an attendant with a lamp, and 
marshalled his guest to his couch. On returning to 
the banqueting-hall the White Knight was joined by 
the two men already mentioned. 

''Where have you been, Gerald?" demanded the 
lord of the castle of the younger man. 

*' In my chamber/' replied the youth. 

'' Wherefore not at the evening banquet, my son?'' 

" There was one present I could not trust myself to 
meet in amity," replied Gerald. 

" You mean Sir Walter Baleigh ? " 

'' Yes. What brought him hither ? " 

"Heavy tidings, an' they be true, which God 
forbid ! " replied his sire. '' He informs me the Earl 
of Desmond lurks somewhere in our country, and that 
the Lord President holds me accountable, in life and 
lands, for his capture." 

''Then up with our banner, and down with our 
foes ! " cried the young man with enthusiasm. 

"What meanest thou, Gerald?" cried the White 
Knight ; " you surely do not say this news is true." 

"Indeed I do, father. The earl i% now in our 
country!" 

Then the poor old knight was in sore distress. He 
tore his grey hair in perfect frenzy, and gave way to 
a burst of grief. 

" Father — dear father ! " expostulated his son, " re- 
frain from this unworthy lamentation. Surely it costs 
thee but little to give up the alliance with the English 
and succour our liege lord and cousin.^ 



y> 



^•|pail«i^iH«PiP9>^^9^S^SiPniRWi^^9n**^9aai^^^" ' fmm^m^^^ii - l.^ ufi^iluuu 



TAe Munster Circuit 29 

'^ Gerald V^ groaned the afflicted knight^ ''yon know 
not what I have vowed. Believing in the ntter im- 
possibility of the Saxon's story being true, I have 
vowed that ere to-morrow's sun sets, I shall deliver 
Desmond, living or dead, into Raleigh's hands, if he 
be in my country, or else deliver up myself." 

'' And what is your resolution ? " 

'' To keep my vow I " 

*' Yes ; but how ? There is an alternative ?" 

*' I mean to deliver up Desmond." 

'' Shame ! Shame on thee, Clan Gibbon ! " cried the 
youth, deeply moved. ''Greatly art thou fallen. 
Time was, when different sentiments were thine, and 
promptly wouldst thou have spumed the notion of 
betraying the noble who put his trust, and sought 
safety with thee and thine." 

" Alas ! my circumstances permit no other course." 

" Thank heaven, I shall be no party to so base an 
act," retorted the youth; "but, mayhap, thou never 
canst find where we have concealed the earl." 
. "What do I hear?" exclaimed the White Kjiight. 
" Oh, tell me, Gerald, where is he ?" 

" Never 1" replied his son; " my tongue shall first 
be torn out," 

" I charge thee, on thy duty, sir, to tell me I " 

" My duty is to prevent eternal infamy falling on 
our noble name," replied the young man proudly. 

" It is no disgrace to yield a rebel to justice." 

" Ha I rebel and yield, are new terms in the mouth 
of the White Knight," laughed the youth scornfully. 
"Methinks the justice which our Lord of Desmond 
will receive from t^e English enemy consists of a stQut 



30 Tlie Munster Circuit, 

rope and a short shrift; and possibly the latter is 
dispensed with as papistical/' 

'^ I seek not to argue with you, sir/' said the knight 
angrily; ^^nor care I what punishment an outlawed 
rebel shall receive. My duty is to deliver him up, and 
I demand of you his place of refuge/' 

'^With me, at least, the secret is safe/' replied 
Gerald; "I refuse to telL" 

'^ Nay, this is past bearing I " cried the knight, 
losing temper. '^ Shawn," he called to the attendant 
in the antechamber, "summon two of the warders, 
and convey this obstinate boy to the prison in the 
western turret, and place him under bolt and bar until 
he gives me the information I need." 

Shawn, accustomed to the despotic orders of his 
chief, promptly obeyed. 

'^I yield obedience to the chief," said Gerald, "in 
all that befits a gentleman; but I will be neither a 
betrayer nor an informer. Lead me to the dungeon." 

The footsteps of the party, as they tramped across 
the courtyard, aroused Raleigh's curiosity. He asked 
one of the retainers the cause. 

'^ The knight has sent his son to prison, I hear, for 
refusing to give up the Earl of Desmond," was the 
reply. 

"He may be depended on, then, and I can venture 
to sleep," said Raleigh ; and placing his arms within 
reach, in case of need, soon fell into a profound 
slumber. 

. Next morning the White Knight mustered his re- 
tainers in the courtyard. He briefly stated the neces- 
sity he was under of keeping his vow^ and said, " I 



The Munster Circuit, 31 

promise, and hereby offer any of you who will conduct 
me to the hiding-place of the Earl of Desmond, the 
sum of fifty pounds, and the inheritance of a plough- 
iand of fertile ground, to him and his heirs for ever." 

All protested their readiness to help their chief, if in 
their power, but declared they were not aware of the 
earl being in their country. 

Shawn, who overheard all that passed between the 
knight and his son, on the previous evening, desired 
to speak with the chief in private. 

"After all that has passed," he said, "I suppose 
you are in earnest, and I am able to help you. I 
know where the earl is." 

*' Then, Shawn, FU reward you." 

** Follow on, then," replied Shawn. '' We had 
better take horses, for 'tis some miles off." 

The knight, with Shawn and six mounted troopers, 
set forth. The route lay over hills and valleys, until 
they were some miles from the castle. 

''Do you see that small hole in the hill-side ?" said 
Shawn, pointing to what looked like the entrance to a 
fox-earth. 

" Yes," replied the White Knight. 

''Within is the retreat of the earl." 

At the mouth of the cave the band dismounted; 
then the chief bent over the aperture, and called, 
" Desmond, come forth ! You are my prisoner ! " 

"Who calls ?" replied a voice the knight knew was 
that of the earL 

" I am Clan Gibbon— the White Knight I " 

"Then art thou doubly a traitor," said the earl, 
emerging from the cave ; turning to the troopers, who 



32 714^ Munster Circuit. 

awed by the presence of so renowned a noble^ had 
doffed their helmets^ '' for being Clan Gibbon^ you are 
my own kinsman, and as White Knight, yon and yoa» 
are my natural followers — ^as you are doubly a traitor— 
I call on my liegemen here to arrest yovi,^ 

The knight's men looked from one to another^ but 
no one stirred. 

''My lord/' said Shawn, drawing his sword, and 
Bei2dng the earl, ''that day is past. We are friends 
with Queen Elizabeth now, and you are her foe/' 

The rest then closed round the fugitive. 

"Enough/' cried the earl, "I yield. When my 
own kin desert me I have no care for freedom." 

So saying, he mounted the charger of one of the 
troopers, while the man rode behind a comrade ; and 
thus, ere sunset, the White Knight redeemed his vow. 

For this service the White Knight received the 
thousand pounds promised by the Lord President.' 
The earl's trial on the Munster Circuit, took place at 
Cork, and as he was attainted on the 10th of March 
preceding, it was merely formal. Of course he was 
convicted, and the Lord President, from Shandon 
Castle, Cork, forwarded the earl to London. He, too, 
died in the Tower, and was buried alongside his cousin, 
the parliamentary earl. 

During the presidency of Sir George Carew, the 
Presidential Court of the province of Munster was pre- 
sided over by two able judges. Sir Nicholas Walshe, 
Chief Justice, and Gerald Comerford, Second Justice. 
I hope the legal profession was then better supplied 

» Smith's " Cork," vol. ii. p. 77. 



The Munster CircuiL 33 

with practitioners than the medical profession^ as ap- 
pears from the following: The President^ when ill, 
and in want of a physician, writing to the Queen, from 
Cork, on September 29, 1602, states: — ^^ Ireland is 
destitute of learned men of English birth, and with 
Irish physicians — knowing the good will they bears me — 
if they were learned, I dare not venture/' 

Munster, under the presidency of Sir George Carew, 
knew little of law or order, save the conquering arm of 
English power. • He was seldom out of the field of 
strife. He left Sir Charles Wilmot and Sir Gteorge 
Thornton, joint commissioners for the government of 
the province, on leaving Cork, in February, 1603, for 
England, learning the Queea was very unwell. He 
was not in time to find the Queen alive. She died 
before he reached Chester, but he was in time to assist 
in proclaiming James YI. of Scotland as the King of 
England, by whom he was created Lord Totnes. 

During Carew's absence from Munster, Sir George 
Thornton, one of the two commissioners of Munster, ap- 
plied to Thomas Sarsfield, then mayor, to have the new 
king proclaimed. The mayor, who from some cause 
or other had not made up his mind to proclaim James, 
replied, " The Charter of Cork allowed his taking time 
to consider of it." Sir George replied "that the King, 
who had a just right to the Crown, had been pro- 
claimed in Dublin, and that a delay would be taken 
ill." 

To this the mayor shortly rejoined that "Perkin 
Warbeck had also been proclaimed in Dublin; and 
that much damage had come of their precipitation." 
The Chief Justice of Munster, Sazey, who was present^ 

D 



34 l^f^ Munster Circuit. 

said " they should be committed if they refused/^ This 
seems to have excited the resentment of the Corpora- 
tion, for William Mead, the recorder, replied, " There 
was no one there with authority to commit them/' 
The Corporation of Cork had resolved not to do things 
in a hurry. They retired to the court-house, and left 
Sir George Thornton and his party out in the cold. 

They remained pacing up and down the street out- 
side the court-house for an hour, when, growing im- 
patient, Sir George sent to the mayor, to know ''if 
they had made up their mind what to do ?'' 

The answer was " No." 

Another hour elapsed, and again the commissioner 
sent to hear the decision of the Corporation. The 
Recorder, not very civilly, told the messenger, "he 
could have no answer until next day, if even then.*' 
Whereon Sir George and his suite went in person, 
and the Recorder gave them scant courtesy. Sir 
Richard Boyle, afterwards the great Earl of Cork, was 
then Clerk of the Presidential Court of Munster, and 
he reproved the learned Recorder for his conduct, 
desiring him ''not to break out in so unreasonable 
and choleric a fashion.'' 

Mead at once said, " Though I do not break out, 
there are thousands ready to do so." 

Sir George instantly requested the Recorder "to 
explain what he meant by those words." 

"Very well," replied Mead, "but the city must 
have three or four days time to consult about the 
ceremony." 

The delay was spent in preparing for civil war. 

For some time the city was in open rebellion, but 



The Munster Circuit, 3 5 

when matters were looking serious, the Mayor and 
Corporation, knowing the very decided character of 
the then Viceroy, Lord Mountjoy, wrote by way of 
excuse to that nobleman, to say, " they had received 
the King^s proclamation only on the 11th of April, and 
put off the ceremony until the 16th, in order that it 
might be done with more solemnity." The Commis- 
sioners of Munster, we may feel assured, gave the 
Viceroy a very different account of the state of affairs. 

Cork was not the only city on the Munster Circuit 
that became reluctant to proclaim the King of Scots 
King of Ireland j Waterford was also in revolt, so that 
the Lord Deputy, judging the situation of aflfeirs in 
the provinces required his immediate present attention, 
proceeded with a numerous army into Munster. On 
the 5th of May, 1603, Lord Mount joy summoned the 
Mayor of Waterford to open the gates of that city 
and receive him and his army. The spirit of rebel- 
lion immediately appeared. The gate was shut against 
the Lord Deputy and his troops, and the citizens pleaded 
" that by a charter of King John, they were exempted 
from quartering soldiers/^ 

While the parties were thus engaged, we learn from 
Dr. Ryland's ^'History of Waterford,'^ two eccle- 
siastics. Dr. White and a young Dominican friar, came 
into the camp. They were habited in the dress of 
their order. When they entered the Lord Deputy's 
tent. Dr. White commenced a violent religious contro- 
versy, " all of which,^' we are told, ^^ his lordship did 
most learnedly confute.'^ He then severely repre- 
hended the conduct of the citizens, threatened to draw 
King James's sword, and mit the charter of King John to 

D 2 



36 The Munster Circuit, 

pieces, ' and declared his intention^ " if they persisted 
in their obstinacy, to level their city, and strew it with 
salt/^ This resolute language was effectual. The 
citizens, awed into submission, opened the gates, and 
the Viceroy and his troops entered. The citizens took 
the oath of allegiance, and, in order that they should 
keep it, a strong garrison was placed in the city. 

The Lord Deputy next visited Cork, prepared to 
punish any resistance to his authority. The mayor 
was apprised of his coming, and it was debated if he 
should be allowed to enter. There were great numbers 
of the citizens of the capital of Munster who were 
opposed to it ; but wiser counsels prevailed, and the 
Viceroy entered Cork on the 11th of May, 1603. 
Ploughshares were placed by the citizens along his 
route through the city, to intimate that the destruc- 
tion of the growing crops by the soldiers had caused 
so many ploughs to be idle. This gave the Lord 
Deputy a solution of the cause for popular discontent. 

Several of those who took part in the late rebellion 
were ordered to be tried. A grand jury, consisting of 
only fifteen members, found bills against Mead the 
recorder, Mr. Gould, and others. They were tried 
before the two Commissioners, the Chief Justice, and 
William Saxey and Gerald Comerford, justices. Mead, 
who is described as having been the ringleader of the 
revolt, was acquitted, though it is hard to learn on 
what grounds. Gould pleaded in justification, that 
"goods he sold the wife of the late President — Sir 
George Carew — and for which he paid good coin, was 
paid for by Lady Carew^s steward in mixed money.*' 
Whereon the Cork jury, regarding such conduct as 



The Munster Circuit. 37 

good grounds for rebellion in the honest trader, 
acquitted him. 

The Becorder thought it prudent, after his discharge 
from custody, to visit the Continent. When at Naples 
he wrote a treasonable book called "Advice to the 
Catholics of Munster,^' a copy of which is preserved in 
the Bodleian. Library, at Oxford. He did not return 
to Ireland, but died at Naples.^ 

* Gibson's " History of Cork," vol. ii. p. 27. 



38 The Munster Circuit, 



CHAPTER III. 

Successive Presidents. — Incidents in the Life of the First 
Earl of Cork. — Plot and Counter-plot. — A disappointed 
host. — Cromwell's Jests. — Fate of the Regicides. — A Charge 
to a Grand Jury. 

Sib Hekry Becheb was appointed Lord President 
of Munster in 1604. He comes next after Sir George 
Carew in the list of Presidents — Sir George Thornton 
and Sir Charles Wilmot being only Commissioners. I 
do not find any account of circuits during the six 
years Sir Henry Becher held the office of President. 
He died in 1610, and was succeeded by Lord Dan- 
vers, who had been a commander of cavalry to Lord 
Mountjoy. Several changes of Presidents quickly 
followed each other. Sir Oliver St. John was Pre- 
sident of Munster in 1611. He nominated Sir Richard 
Moryson Vice-President, and was replaced in 1616 by 
the Earl of Thomond. This nobleman dying the same 
year, Sir Edward Villiers became Lord President. 

The Clerk of the Council of Munster, from 1602, 
for several years, was Richard Boyle, the celebrated 
first Earl of Cork. The salary was only 20Z. per 
annum, but the fees of office were very remunerative. 
Together with filling the office of Clerk of the Coun- 
cil, Boyle was also a magistrate for the whole province 



The Munster Circuit, 39 

of Munster, and was constantly in attendance upon 
the Lord President, who employed him in various 
duties requiring ability and despatch. The following 
incident in his life, related by himself, is an in- 
stance : — 

"As Clerk of the Council," I attended the Lord 
President in all his employments, and waited on him 
during all the siege of Kinsale, and was employed 
by his Lordship to her Majesty, with the news of 
that happy victory, in which employment I made a 
speedy expedition to the Court, for I left my Lord 
President at Shandon Castle, near Cork, on the Mon- 
day morning, near two o^clock, and next day ^being 
Tuesday, I delivered my packet, and supped with 
Sir Robert Cecil, being then principal Secretary of 
State, at his house in the Strand ; who, after supper, 
held me in discourse until two o'clock in the morning, 
and by seven that morning called upon me to attend 
him to the Court, where he presented me to her Ma- 
jesty, in her bed-chamber, who remembered me, calling 
me by my name, and giving me her hand to kiss, and 
telling me that she was glad that I was the happy 
man to bring the first news of that glorious victory. 
And after her Majesty had interrogated me upon sun- 
dry questions, very punctually ; and that therein I had 
given her full satisfaction in every particular, she 
again gave me her hand to kiss, and recommended my 
despatch for Ireland, and so dismissed me with grace 
and favour.^' * 

When the ill-fated Lord Went worth, afterwards 

* " Autobiography of the Earl of Cork." 



40 The Munster Circuit. 

Lord Strafford, became Lord Deputy of Ireland in 
January, 1631, Sir William St. Leger was President 
of Munster. He was appointed President of Mun- 
ster in 1627. During the civil strife which desolated 
Ireland from 1641 to 1650, the circuits of the 
judges seem to have been suspended. The un- 
happy contests which prevailed during these dis- 
astrous years belong to the general history of the 
kingdom, and I have no desire to introduce any of 
the blood-stained details into my peaceful narrative 
of events upon the Munster circuit. 

St. Leger, the Lord President of Munster, died 
at Doneraile on the 2nd of July, 1642. It is sup- 
posed the dissensions between the King and the 
Parliament so affected his health as to have hastened 
his dissolution. The Lord Inchiquin, who had mar- 
ried St. Leger^s daughter, was appointed by the 
Lords^ Justices to the vacant o£Sce of President of 
Munster. During his presidency there was, accord- 
ing to the Rev. Mr. Gibson, historian of Cork, a daring 
and decided measure adopted for turning the native 
Irish out of Cork, Youghal, and Einsale, and to justify 
this, a plot was said to have been discovered. 

A tract, published in London in 1644, entitled 
*' A Plot Discovered in Ireland, and prevented with- 
out the Shedding of Blood,^' bears the name of 
Jane Ooe. The following extracts show the terri- 
ble rancorous spirit of these fearful times : — " I know 
you have heard how my Lord Inchiquin hath put the 
Irish out of Cork in July last, and not without much 
cause, for there was a most horrid, damnable, and 
bloody plot of conspiracy invented and practised by 



^F 



The Munster Circuit. 41 

the Popish priests and bloodthirsty Jesuits, and the 
same of a sudden to be put in execution by the 
townsmen of Cork, who were confederates with that 
bloody arch-rebel, the Lord of Muskerry." 

The tract describes the nature of the plot, the 
discovery, and execution of the priests, and thus 
continues : — " For the rest of the townsmen they 
had engaged themselves in this inhuman conspiracy, 
they were so many in number, and being at least 
six to one of our English, they could not so well be 
taken, or apprehended without great danger and 
much effusion of blood on both sides. But the 
Governor of Cork, and the rest of the chief, com- 
manders, for the better prevention of so great a 
danger, devised a remarkable counter-plot (for the 
taking and apprehending the town conspirators 
rather by policy than by violence), and for that 
purpose caused Captain Muschamp, Governor of the 
Great Fort of Cork, to feign to be drunk. And so, 
as it were, in a merry humour, invited himself to 
Master Major (Mayor) * his house to dinner ; and, 
accordingly he dined there, and, after the Irish 
fashion, was kindly entertained, and divers cups 
passed around of sack, claret, and usquebaugh, in 
friendly manner, to welcome him, and make him the 
more merrily disposed. And sitting at dinner they 
discourse of divers matters concerning the present 
distractions of these times, and divers propositions 
were made, and every one gave their opinions ac- 
cording to their own apprehensions; and, amongst 

' Sir Robert Goppinger, a Boman Catholic, and staunch 
adherent of the Honse of Stuart, was then Mayor. 



42 The Munster Circuit. 

other discourses, Captain Muschamp, seeming to be 
in merry humour, did speak these, or such like 
words : — 

" ^ Well, Master Major, if that it should please 
God that the Parliament ships were in the harbour 
of Cork, if you and the rest would not take the 
covenant to be true to the King amd Parliament, I 
protest I would, with the great ordnance in the 
fort, beat down all the houses in Cork about your 
ears/ 

" With that the Major and the rest of the com- 
pany rose up in a great fury, and said ^ that he had 
spoken treason, and he should answer it;' and so 
they brought him before the Governor, and repeated 
the words he had spoken, desiring that he might be 
proceeded against according to law, in such cases 
provided, 

"Whereupon the Governor gave many thanks to 
Master Major in showing himself so good a subject 
in discovering such a treason as that was, saying, 
* it was time to look about, as when we shall have 
the chief oflScers that are put in trust with matters 
of such concernment as he was, being Governor of 
the King's forts, should speak such treasonable words. 
And, therefore. Master Major, you shall have my best 
assistance, and such punishment shall be inflicted upon 
him as martial law will permit/ 

" So the Major, for the present, departed, and the 
martial law was called. And the Council of War 
met, and sa.t upon his trial. The business examined, 
the witnesses produced, the words were proved against 
him, and being found guilty he was condemned by 



The Munster Circuit. 43 

the Council of War, and had his sentence given — 
to be hanged next day. 

^'And at the time appointed^ the sheriffs and the 
greatest part of the city came to see the execation; 
and the prisoner was brought out of the city, well 
guarded^ with a company of musqueteers \ and when 
they perceived that the chiefest and most dangerous 
men of the city were come out of the gates, the 
word was given, and the prisoner. Captain Mus- 
champ, being set at liberty, did command his officers 
to lay hold on all the chiefest of the citizens, and 
carry them prisoners to the fort whereof he was 
captain and governor. And as soon as they were 
taken, the chiefest aldermen and others in the city 
were taken, and kept prisoners as hostages to secure 
the English as well within as without the gates, 
which were at that instant shut up, and the draw- 
bridge taken up, so that none could come in or go 
out, till all the matters were pacified. 

''And in the meantime there was a proclamation 
made, that if the Irish resisted the English, the sol- 
diers should shoot them; and if any English were 
killed in that broil the chiefest of the city should be 
hanged over their walls; which proclamation did so 
terrify the Irish that they were all glad to be quiet, 
and so there was no great hurt done, which was 
much to be admired, that a matter of so dangerous 
a consequence should be effected without any further 
trouble, and the projectors thereof highly to be 
commended in devising such a stratagem of mercy 
in time of such troubles and rebellion to prevent the 
shedding of guileless blood.'^ 



44 T^f^ Munster Circuit 

We learn how suddenly the citizens were deprived 
of hoase and home by this occurrence, from the 
account of his travels by Monsieur Boullaye Le Gouz, 
a French gentleman, who visited Cork after the ex- 
pulsion. He had befriended in Paris a Cork young 
gentleman named Neuel, probably Neville, still a 
respectable name in Cork, and in return for his 
kindness, as he mentioned to Mr. Neville his in- 
tended journey to Ireland, the Irishman hospitably 
asked him to travel with him, as he was homeward 
bound, and, when in Cork, he should be the guest 
of Mri Neville's father. M. Le Gouz consented to 
this proposal, and, in due time, they reached the 
city on the Lee. But 1644 found the Catholics re- 
pulsed from the city, and strangers placed in their 
homes. Young Neville, unaware of the circum- 
stance, reached the house which his family con- 
sidered theirs. To his summons and inquiry a strange 
servant replied, "he knew no such person as Mr. 
Neville.'' Young Neville had an interview with 
the then master. He said he had obtained a grant 
of the house from the Governor. It was then un- 
occupied, and he heard that one Mr. Neville formerly 
resided there. This was cold comfort for the youth, 
who hoped to give his French guest an Irish wel- 
come. With a sad and sorrowful heart he sought 
the house of a kinsman, who, luckily, had not left 
the city to see Captain Muschamp hanged. He 
received young Neville and his friend most kindly, 
and the young man joined his father and family in 
Spain. 

The comments of the reverend historian of Cork 



The Munster Circuit 45 

on this transaction are not very complimentary to 
the participators : — 

'* The aflTair described by Jane Ooe was, no doubt, 
very clever, bat very disgraceful, especially to men 
of authority. This anti-Popish plot was worthy of 
a pot-house. The governor of an important fort 
feigns drunkenness, staggers, uninvited, to the 
mayor^s house, broaches treason, is arrested, has a 
sham trial — ^his judge being in the plot — and is 
condemned to be executed. The principal inhabi- 
tants go out to see him hanged, and, at a given 
signal, are seized and turned out of the city, to 
wander as vagabonds up and down the country/' ' 
Lord Inchiquin, the instigator of this scheme, was 
confirmed in the of&ce of President by the English 
Parliament. But the records of the Munster circuit 
are a blank for some years. The civil authority 
ceased in Cork on the 28th of July, 1644, and was 
not renewed till the year 1655, when John Hodder 
was elected Mayor. 

Cromwell, during his sojourn in Ireland, went the 
Munster circuit. He had his own method of gene- 
ral gaol delivery, and, from the way he treated the 
ill-fated inhabitants of Drogheda, few towns oflTered 
resistance to his entrance — of these, however. Water- 
ford was one. He could not take the wrbs intacta 
for a long period. As few witty sayings of the 
grim-visaged Protector have reached us, I give one 
he made while on the Munster circuit. 

Being in want of ordnance, he ordered the church 
bells of Cork to be cast into siege-guns. Some of 
" Gibson's " History of Cork," vol. ii. p. 82. 



46 The Munster Circuit, 

his fanatical officers remonstrated with him upon 
the sacrilegious use he was making of these appurte- 
nances to places devoted to the worship of the Most 
High. Cromwell replied, *' Since gunpowder was in- 
vented by a monk, surely it is not wrong to promote 
church bells into canovsJ^ 

Another specimen of Cromwell's humour is this. 
Mr. Magner, of Castle-Magner, near Mallow, went 
to Cork to pay his respects to the Lord Protector, 
possibly with a view to remove impressions of the 
hostility of Mr. Magner to the Puritans. Cromwell 
was told he was a Malignant, and had given much 
trouble to the Parliamentary adherents during the 
civil war. Cromwell received him with apparent 
friendliness — expressed the pleasure he felt at Mr. 
Magner's visit, and on his taking leave Cromwell 
entrusted him with a letter for Colonel Phair, then 
commanding the Parliamentary forces in Munster. 

Mr. Magner, possibly distrusting the cordial re- 
ception he received from Cromwell, thought it pru- 
dent to ascertain the contents of the letter he was to 
deliver to Colonel Phair. His sagacity was rewarded 
by discovering it was a warrant for his death, 
couched in the laconic words, '^ Execute the Bearer, '' 

Richard Magner then and there resolved he 
would not be the victim of Oliver's vengeance, but 
he would allow some one else to carry the fatal 
order. Now, there was in command of the garrison of 
Mallow an officer who had incurred Magner's enmity by 
seizing his flocks and damaging his property. He 
therefore called upon this officer, and, handing him 
the letter, carefully resealed, said, 'Hhe Lieutenant- 



The Munster Circuit, 47 



General requested it should be delivered to Colonel 
Phair in person, without delay/' 

Proud of his mission, the officer prepared to deliver 
it at once, and Magner went to his home. When 
Colonel Phair read the letter, knowing the character of 
the stem Roundhead who brought it, and conscious 
there was a mistake somewhere, he hesitated to carry 
out the contents until he communicated with Crom- 
well. This saved the officer's life. Cromwell then 
knew he had been out-generaled ; and we may be sure 
Mr. Bichard Magner took good care to give him no 
other opportunity of ordering his execution. 

Among those adherents of Cromwell who obtained 
grants of land iu Munster, was Sir William Penn. He 
first got the castle of Macroom, and resided there in 
1656, which caused the belief that his celebrated son, 
William Penn, of Quaker celebrity, was born in Mac- 
room Castle; but he was born in London on the 1 1th 
of October, 1644 — ^twelve years before the admiral, his 
father, went to Macroom. 

When Cromwell was appointing commissioners for 
civil affairs in Ireland, he appointed Miles Corbet — 
one of the regicides who sat upon the trial of King 
Charles I. — Commissioner for Munster. This barrister 
was afterwards Chief Baron of the Irish Court of Ex- 
chequer, and obtained a grant of the Condon property 
on the river Puncheon, which was divided between 
him and the Lord Deputy Fleetwood. This property 
was then called Cloghleagh, from the stately castle of 
the Condons, built on a lofty ledge of rock, rising from 
the brink of the river, and now forming a striking and 
picturesque feature in Moor Park, the demesne of the 



48 The Munster Circuit. 

Earl of Mountcashel. The Lord Deputy wished to 
change the Irish name of Gloghleagh for Kilworth, a 
place in Leicestershire, near which he was born. Cor- 
bet would have retained the old name ; but being the 
less powerful of the grantees, had to yield, and thus 
th^ Leicestershire name is given to the Irish post- 
town. Kilworth, we shall see later on, produced 
another Irish Chief Baron, a very much abler lawyer 
than Chief Baron Corbet — the late Bight Honourable 
David B. Pigot, for many years one of the leaders and 
ornaments of the Munster circuit. 

Through Cromwell's influence, Ireton, his son-in- 
law, and one of his ablest generals, became Lord Pre- 
sident of Munster. Ireton appointed Cook, who had 
been, unhappily for himself, solicitor-general during 
the trial of E^ng Charles I., Judge of the Provincial 
Court. Be also had grants of land in the county of 
Cork, whence Castle Cook — ^long the seat of the 
respectable county of Cork family of Cook-CoUis— 
bears its name. 

This provincial judge was not allowed to end his 
days tranquilly. Shortly after the restoration of Charles 
IL, diligent search was made for all the surviving 
regicides, and Cook was an*ested. In those days, 
when mi'u's tempers were boiling over with loyalty for 
the son of the martyred king, conviction and execution 
rapidly followed on trial, and the Munster Provincial 
Court lost its judge by his execution. Ireton was dead, 
and his judge. Cook, was executed, and Lord Orrery, 
&on of the celebrated Earl of Cork, was Lord President 
of Munster after the restoration. Among the papei» 
of Sir John Henry Butler, of the Ormond family, I 



The Munster Circuit. 49 

find the following charge to the grand jnry, showing 
that law and order was being re-established : — 

'' Gentlemen, — In obedience to this command, and 
in pursuance of the trast reposed in us by this com- 
mission, which you have heard, we are thus publicly 
and openly assembled here to-day — a dav 'vhich, to us, 
is a calm after a tempest ; a sunshine after a fog ; a 
time of peace and tranquillity after the horror and 
confusion of an intestine war, and the distraction of an 
unsettled Commonwealth. 

'' It were but the loss of much time and labour, to 
discant on the present state of things, or to cast into 
the balance the advantages and emoluments of a peace- 
able and orderly Government, with the spoils, rapines, 
and innumerable calamities of a rebellious and domestic 
war. You all that are now partakers of the benefit of 
the one, can give a more ample and judicious account, 
having a more distinct remembrance, and some of you 
a woeful experience of the effects of the other. Re- 
ligion, the mother of peace; plenty, the daughter; 
and law, the guardian ; how often, how long have they 
been obscured, estranged, and ravished from us ; and, 
in their stead, heresy had misguided us, famine diseased 
us, and the lawless arbitrary humours of evil men un- 
done us! But now, through the great goodness of 
God, and the prudent care of him that governs us, we 
begin to recover from our miseries, and return to our 
pristine establishment. Religion is preserved to us in 
so many shapes, and preached to us by so many mouths 
of all sects, that, unless we be blind and deaf, we can- 
not miss it. Plenty was never more generally, more 
sensibly, known to this nation. The windows of heaven 

s 



50 The Mutts ter Circuit 

are largely opened, and the fertile womb of tlie earth 
hath prodigally delivered her burthen to our comfort 
and refreshment; inasmuch that I might well say, 
there is a cornucopia among you/^ 

Having detailed the usual bills to go before the 
grand jury, he referred to the following, which, being 
now nearly all obsolete, may be considered curious. I 
accordingly enumerate them. They show the care and 
regard paid to the morality of the people, which, pro- 
bably, was enjoined by Oliver Cromwell and the Puri- 
uans. The grand jury were to inquire as to parties for — 

"1. Profaning the Sabbath by keeping fairs or 
markets, by manual labour, by plays, haunting taverns 
and ale-houses. 

" 2. Cursors and common swearers. 

'^ 3. Common turbulent drunkards. 

'^ 4. Common adulterers. 

"5. Fornicators. 

^^ 6. Keepers of common gaming-houses, and common 
gamesters. 

^'7. Alehouse keepers that keep disorder in their 
houses. 

" 8. Plowing by the tail. 

^^ 9. Pulling the wool of living sheep. 

10. Burning of corn in the straw. 

1 1 . Selling of wine, ale, or any other liquor, in any 
town franchised, by measure not sealed. 

^^ 12. Cosherers and idle wanderers.^' 

The belief in witchcraft caused many cases to be 
tried in England and Scotland. The following shows 
the legal annals of Ireland are not free from these 
odious accusations. 






The Munster Circuit. 5 1 



CHAPTER IV. 

Trial of Florence Newton for Witchcraft. 

Thb case of Florence Newton, tried for Witchcraft, 
is published in '^ Suddnciasmas Triamphatics, or, a 
fall and plain Evidence concerning Witches and 
Apparitions,^^ by Joseph Glanvill, Chaplain to King 
Charles II., P.R.S. The Report of the Trial was 
commiinicated to the Rev. J. Glanvill by Valentine 
Greatrecks, who obtained the notes of the Judge, 
and who was examined at the trial. 

In my " Lives of the Lord Chancellors of Ireland '* 
I give an account of the proceedings against Dame 
Alice Kyteler for Witchcraft in Kilkenny, while Roger 
Utlagh was Chancellor. This was in the reign of King 
Edward II., ad., 1330. Yet, after a lapse of three 
centuries, the belief in witchcraft was still flourishing, 
and, in the Gaol of Cork, for trial at the Autumn Assizes 
of 1661, during the reign of the Merry Monarch, lay an 
aged crone, named Florence Newton, charged with be- 
witching one Mary Longdon, and grievously torment- 
ing her, and bewitching one David Jones, whereby he 
languished and died. 

The prisoner, a miserable old creature, was brought 
for trial to the Cork Assizes on the 11th September, 
1661. The presiding Judge was Sir William Aston. 

s 2 



$2 The Munster Circuit 

His patent as one of the Justices of the Court of King's 
Bench in Ireland, records ''that the Eang had ap- 
pointed him, in consideration of his singular honesty, 
ability, and integrity, his early and ready appearance 
for the King, and loyalty to his Majesty/' * 

The case excited i^o ordinary interest, for Sir 
William Domville, then Attorney-General for Ireland, 
attended, and conducted the prosecution. The prisoner, 
having pleaded ''Not Guilty,'' and the case being 
stated to the jury, Mary Longdon, the alleged victim, 
being sworn, and desired to look on the prisoner " be- 
came very pallid, and was very fearful to look towards 
her, but at last she did, and identified her as Florence 
Newton, whom she had known for three or four 
years." 

In answer to the questions put, she stated, "that 
at Christmas the prisoner came to her at the house 
of John Pyne, in Youghal, where witness was a servant, 
and the prisoner asked her for a piece of beef out of 
the powdering (salting) tub." That when the witness 
replied, " she could not give away her master's beef," 
the prisoner became very angry, and said,— 

" Thou had'st as good have given it me," and went 
away grumbling. 

About a week after, when witness was going for 
water, with a pail on her head, she met the prisoner, 
who threw the pail off her head, and violently kissed 
her, and said, " Mary, I pray thee let thee and me be 
friends; for I bear thee 'no ill-will, and I pray thee do 
thou bear me none." Then witness went home, and, 

^ Smyth's " Law Officers of Ireland," 106. 



The Munster Circuit, S3 

witbin a few days, she saw a woman, with a veil over 
her face, stand by her bed, together with a little old 
man in silk clothes, who witness took to be a spirit. 
He drew the veil from the face of the woman, and 
then witness knew it was the prisoner. 

That the spirit spoke to the witness, and ''would 
have her follow his advice, and she would have all 
things after her own heart ;'* but she replied, ''she 
would have nothing to say to him, for her trust was in 
the Lord.'' 

That within a month after the prisoner had kissed 
her, she, witness, became subject to fits or trances, of 
such violence, that three or four men could not hold 
her. These fits were accompanied by vomiting needles, 
pins, horse-nails, stubbs, wool, and straw. A little 
before the commencement of these fits small stones 
fell apon her head, shoulders, and arms, and these 
stones would follow her as she went up and down, 
and in different parts of the room, and, after hitting 
her, they fell on the ground and vanished. That she, 
and others, could see them hit her, and then fall on the 
ground, and could never take them, only some few which 
she, and her master, caught in their hands. Amongst 
which was one that had a hole in it. This she tied, as 
she was advised, with a leather thong to her purse ; 
but it vanished immediately, though the leather re- 
mained tied in a fast knot. 

That in her fits she often saw the prisoner, and 
cried out against her for tormenting the witness, for 
she would stick pins in her arms, and some so fast 
that a man must pluck three or four times to get out 
the pins. Sometimes the witness would be removed 



54 The Munster Circuit, 

out of her bed into another room, sometimes carried 
to the top of the house, laid on a board between two 
collar beams, sometimes put into a chest, sometimes 
under a parcel of wool, sometimes between two feather 
beds, sometimes between the bed and the mat in her 
master^s chamber, this took place in the daytime. 

On being asked, " how she knew she was thus carried 
about, and disposed of, seeing, in her fits, she was in 
such violent distraction, she answered, '^ She never 
knew where she was till they of the family, and the 
neighbours with them, would be taking her out of the 
places whither she was so removed/^ 

On being asked '' how she could think it was Florence 
Newton that did her this prejudice ? " witness replied, 
''because the prisoner threatened her, and because, 
after the prisoner kissed her, she fell into three fits, 
and that she both saw and felt the prisoner tormenting 
her, and that, when the people of the family, by advice 
of the neighbours, and consent of the Mayor, sent for 
Florence Newton to come to the witness, and when 
she came witness was always worse, and her fits more 
violent than at other times/' 

That, when the prisoner was committed to gaol at 
Youghal, the witness was not troubled till a little after 
the prisoner was removed to Cork, and then witness 
was unwell, as before. And the Mayor of Youghal 
then inquired from Cork whether the prisoner was 
bolted (as witness was told), and, finding she was not, 
orders were issued to have her bolts put on her, which, 
being done, caused witness to become well again, and 
so she continued ever since. 

Being asked '' if she had these fits before Florence 



Ttie Munster Circuit. 55 

Newton kissed her/' she said, ^' Never ; but believed 
the kiss bewitched her^ and she heard^ from Nicholas 
Pyne and others, that Florence Newton confessed as 
much/' 

This extraordinary evidence being concluded, a scene, 
quite in accordance with the evidence, and which must 
have been regarded as strongly corroborative— ensued. 
I give it in the words of the report : — 

*' This Mary Longdon, having closed up her evidence, 
Florence Newton peeped at her, as it were, betwixt 
the heads of the bystanders that intercepted betwixt 
her and the said Mary, and, lifting up both her hands 
together, as they were manacled, cast them in an angry, 
violent manner (as was seen and observed by W. Aston) 
towards the said Mary, as if she intended to strike her 
if she could have reached her, and said, * Now she is 
down ! ' '' 

Upon which the maid fell suddenly down to the 
ground like a stone, and fell into the most violent fit, 
that all the people that could come to lay hands on her 
could scarce hold her, she biting her own arms, aad 
shrieking out in a most hideous manner, to the amaze- 
ment of the beholders, and continuing so for about a 
quarter of an hour (the prisoner sitting by herself all 
that while, pinching her own hands and arms, as was 
seen by some that observed her). The maid was 
ordered to be carried out of Court, ^and taken to a 
neighbouring house. Several persons soon brought 
in word the maid was in a vomiting fit, and they brought 
in several crooked pins, and straw, and wool, in a 
white foam, like spittle, in great proportions. Where- 
upon the Court, having taken notice what the maid 



56 The Muiuter Circuit, 

had said, ''she had been very well when the said 
Florence was in bolts, and ill again when out of them 
till they were put on her,'' demanded of the jaylor, 
" if she were in bolts or no ? '' ''I think,'* he said, 
" she was not, but only manacled." Upon which order 
was given to put on her bolts, and, upon putting them 
on, she cried out, '' she was killed ; she was undone, 
she was spoil'd. "Why do you torment me ? " and so 
continued complaining grievously. 

Shortly word was brought in the maid was well, on 
which the prisoner uttered these words, '' She is not 
well yet." On being asked how she knew the maid 
was not well yet, she denied having said those words, 
and being told, *' many in Court heard her," she re- 
plied, '' If she did, she did not know what she said, 
being old and disquieted, and distracted with her 
sufferings." 

The maid, being sufficiently recovered, was sent home 
to Youghal. 

The maid's fit in Court, with the circumstances 
already stated, and the words used by the prisoner, 
were then urged as proof of the devilish practices of 
the prisoner on trial, 

Nicholas Stout, who had filled the offices of bailiff 
and Mayor of Youghal, was examined by the Attorney- 
General. He deposed that he had often tried the prisoner ; 
and, having heard that witches could not say the Lord's 
Prayer, asked the prisoner to do so, and found she 
could not. 

Here the prisoner cried out " she could," and, leave 
being given to her, she commenced ; and, four times 
after repeating " Give us this day our daily bread," 



TIte Munster Circuit. 57 

slie continually said, " as we forgive them," leaving out 
the words '' and forgive us our trespasses,'^ upon which 
the Court appointed a person near her to teach her 
the words thus left out. But she either could not, or 
would not, say them. 

John Pyne, a bailiff of Youghal, in whose service 
Mary Longdon then was, being examined, most fully 
corroborated her story, to near the minutest parti- 
cular. Indeed, now reading over his testimony, — de- 
scribing the stones thrown at her, hitting her, then 
falling on the ground, and vanishing; catching 
one with a hole, which the maid tied to her purse, 
and which vanished, leaving the string tied ; the fits, 
and her removal to the warm places she deposed to ; 
her vomiting wool, pins, horse-nails, straw, and needles, 
with white foam or spittle, — ^had the time been less 
sceptical, we might imagine a preconcerted conspiracy 
against the alleged witch. 

Nicholas Pyne, also a native of Youghal, was exa- 
mined. He swore that the second night after that the 
witch was in prispn, 24th March, he and Joseph Thomp- 
son, Boger Hawkins, and others, went and told her, 
" it was the general opinion of the town she had be- 
witched the maid, and desired her to say if she be- 
witched her or no.'' She said, " she had not bewitched 
her, but it might be she had overlooked her, and that 
there was a great difference betwixt bewitching and 
overlooking, and that she could not have done her any 
harm if she had not bewitched her, and that therefore 
she had kiss'd her." And she said '^ What mischief 
she thought of at that time she kissed her, that would 
fall upon her." The prisoner would not confess she 



58 The Munster Circuit. 

had wronged the maid, and fell upon her knees and 
prayed '^ God to forgive her for wronging the poor 
wench/' They wished the maid might not be wholly 
destroyed by her, to which the prisoner replied, '* It 
must be another that must help her, and not they that 
did the harm,'' and then she said, " there were others, 
as Goody Halfpenny and Goody Dod in town, that 
could do these things as well as she,' and it might be 
one of them that did the maid wrong." 

That towards evening the door of the prison shook, 
and the prisoner rose hastily, and asked, ^^ What makest 
thou here this hour of the night ? " and there was a 
noise, as if somebody with bolts and chains was run- 
ning up and down the room. They asked the prisoner 
" what it was she spoke to, and what made the noise ? " 
She said, ^^ she saw nothing, neither did she speak, or, 
if she did, she knew not." But next day she confessed 
*^ it was a spirit, and her familiar, in the shape of a 
greyhound." 

Witness further stated he and Mr. E. Perry, for 
trial of her, took a tile oflf the prison, next to the 
place where the witch lay,' and carried it to the house 
where the maid lived, then put it into the fire till it 
was red hot, and then dropped some of the maid's water 
upon it, and the witch was then grievously tormented \ 
and when the water was removed, she was well again." 
(This test of witchcraft was suggested to the witness 

2 There is, I believe, in Italy, a dread of II jettatura — the 
Evil Eye— and what is called Fairy Stroke, or overlooking, 
is yet prevalent in Ireland. 

• All the witnesses speak of the prisoner as the witch, that 
being the very point for determination by the jury. 




The Munster Circuit. 59 

at Cashel, by one William Lap). This witness also 
corroborated the former evidence as to the stones, fits, 
vomitings, and removals of the maid, while in the 
fits. 

Edward Perry, BailiflF of Youghal, and subse- 
quently Mayor of Youghal, deposed that he and Mr. 
Greatraix,* with Mr. Blackwall, resolved to try their 
test on the prisoner, so they sent for the witch, and 
set her on a stool, and a shoemaker, with a strong 
awl, tried to stick it in the stool, and could not till 
the third time. They then bade her come off the 
stool; but she said ''she was very weary, and could 
not stir." Then two of them pulled her off, and the 
shoemaker went to pull out his awl, and it dropped 
into his hand with half an inch broken off the blade. 
They all looked to have found where it had been 
stuck, but could find no trace of any entry. Then 
they took another awl, and put it into the maid's hand, 
and then violently struck at the witch's hand with it, 
but could not pierce it through, the awl was so bent, 

* Yalentiae Greatraks — called tho Stroker — from curing 
diseases by stroking the parts affected with bis hands, was 
bom in the Castle of Affane on the 14th February, 1628. 
He evidently anticipated our modem mesmerism, and ap- 
pears to have had very considerable success. His cures were 
attested by many contemporaries. The celebrated Robert 
Boyle and Mr. Cudworth attest his success. He never 
tried his curative powers for any reward; but, supposing 
his power came from Gk>d, freely gave it for His sake. His 
remedial power, as in case of mesmerism, seems to have 
depended much upon the subject of his passes or strokes. 
They were, with some, ef&cacious at once, with others slow; 
and, with some, ineffectual. 



6o The Munster Circuit. 

none of them could straighten it. Then Mr. Black- 
wall took a lance^ and lanced one of her hands deeply^ 
but no blood flowed. He then tried the other, and 
then both bled. Witness also deposed, that when in 
prison, the witch denied ^* she ever said her familiar 
was in the shape of a greyhound, or that she had be- 
witched the maid ; but confessed she had overlooked 
her when she kissed her/' * 

Mr. Wood, Independent Minister, appointed to 
Youghal under the Commonwealth, was then examined. 
He accompanied the maid's brother, and saw her in 
the fits, heard her saying the prisoner had bewitched 
her, and when he caused the prisoner to be secretly 
brought into the room, the torments of the maid in- 
creased, and diminished when the prisoner was also 
privately removed. When the witch was outside the 
chamber the maid would desire to go to prayers, and 
he found good affections in her in time of prayer ; but, 
when the witch was brought in, though never so 
privately, the maid would become senseless, and like 
to be strangled. 

Richard Mayer, Mayor of Youghal, then deposed, 
that about the 24th March last, he sent for the 
prisoner, and she at first denied about the maid, and 
accused Goodwife Halfpenny, and Goodwife Dod for 
tormenting Mary Longdon; but, when he caused a 
boat to be prepared, and intimated his intention to 

' My pioas, learned, and ever kind friend, Bev. Canon 
Hayman, Rector of Douglas, County Cork, from whose 
annotated transcript I am condensing this strange trial, very 
appropriately suggests " Could this superstition have arisen 
from Judas betraying our Redeemer with a kiss P " 



The Munster Circuit, 6i 

sabject the three suspected women to the test of the 
water experiment/ the prisoner confessed ''she had 
overiooked her, and done her wrong with a kiss, for 
which she was heartily sorry, and desired God to for- 
give her/^ That when the witch was present the 
maid's fits increased, and she was better when the 
prisoner was removed. He also confirmed the state- 
ment about the effects of the bolts, and said three 
aldermen of Youghal had children kissed by the 
prisoner, and thereupon they speedily died. 

The report then proceeds : — 

Hitherto we have heard the most undeniable evi- 
dence touching Florence Newton's witchcraft — ^upon 
Mary Longdon — for which she was committed to 
Youghal Prison, March 24th, 1661. The April fol- 
lowing she bewitched one David Jones to death, by 
kissing his hand through the bars of the prison door. 

The indictment was also tried at Cork, at the same 
Assizes, and sworn to as follows : — 

Blenor Jones, relict of said David Jones, swore, 
that in April last her husband, having been out all 
night, came home early in the morning, and said to 
her, "Where dost think I have been all night. I, 
and Prank Besely, have been standing continually over 

• The ordeal by water, a well-known test of witchcraft, was 
thus need. The suspected witch was cross-bound ; the thumb 
of the right hand tied to the great toe of the left foot, and the 
left thumb to the right toe. »She was then immersed in deep 
water. As the belief was then water would not receive any 
guilty person, iE she floated she was taken out and burned or 
hanged; if she sank, she was taken out, perhaps alive, but 
most probably drowned. 



62 The Munster Circuit, 

the witch/^ Then the witness said, ^'Why, what 
hurt is that ? ^^ ^^ Hurt/' quoth he, " marry, I doubt 
it^s never a job the better for me, for she hath kissed 
my hand, and I have had a great pain in that arm, 
and I verily believe she hath • bewitched me/' To 
which witness answered, '^ The Lord forbid/' Then, 
all that night, and continually from that time, he was 
restless, complaining of great pain in his arm, and 
thence to his heart, crying out against Florence 
Newton, and, about fourteen days after he died. 

Francis Besely deposed that, meeting the deceased 
David Jones, they counselled about Florence Newton, 
then a prisoner in the Toughal Prison, ol whom it 
was reported she had sevei'al familiars visiting her in 
different shapes, and they agreed to watch one night, 
to see if any cats, or other creatures, resorted to her 
through the grate. They went, and Jones said to the 
prisoner, " he heard she could not repeat the Lord's 
Prayer/' He tried to teach her, but she could not 
say it. When they withdrew from her she called 
'^ David, come hither.'' He went, though witness 
tried to keep him away. The prisoner then tried to 
repeat the Lord's Prayer, but never could say, '^ For- 
give us our trespasses ;" so David again taught her, 
which she seemed to take thankfully, and told him 
*^ she had a great mind to kiss him, but that the grate 
hindered, but desired she might kiss his hand/' 
Whereupon, he gave her his hand through the grate, 
and she kissed it. Towards break of day they left, 
and soon after witness heard Jones was ill. The 
witness visited Jones, found him in great pain, and he 
complained ''the old hag had bewitched him, and 



The Munster Circuit, 63 

that he laid his deabh at her door/' After fourteen 
days languishing, David Jones died. This closes the 
account I have condensed. Though we are not in- 
formed of the verdict, we may assume it was to find 
Florence Newton a witch, and to punish her accord- 
ingly — either by hanging or burning, as was usual in 
such like cases. 



64 The Munster Circuit. 



CHAPTER V. 

Jacobite and Williamite Wars. — Sagacity of Sir Richard Cox, 
Consnlting Counsel in 1715.— Convivial Habits of the Irish 
Bar. — Apartments in Hell. — Sir Toby Butler. — Feeing the 
Solicitor-General. — A Popish Discoverer baffled. 

The judges found great difficulty in restraining the 
violence of the nobility. Donough, Earl of Clancarty, 
was entrusted by Lord Tyrconnell, Lord Lieutenant 
of Ireland — while James II. was king — with the com- 
mand of the cavalry of Munster. Finding himself 
without horses and arms for his men, he resolved to 
procure both. He attacked Castlemartyr, the seat of 
Colonel Boyle (now the splendid mansion of the Earl 
of Shannon), and took horses and arms to mount and 
equip 150 troopers. He was also successful in ob- 
taining a large supply in Cork, and in the towns 
of the county. He spared neither rich nor poor. At 
Mallow, he took the horse of a butcher, who com- 
plained to the judge of assize. The judge ordered 
the earl to make restitution. The noble lord promised 
compliance, and sent his troopers to perform it ; but 
they tossed the poor butcher in a blanket so violently, 
they broke every bone in his body, and he died from 
the effects of this practical joke. His family obtained 
compensation from King William III., and the lands 



The Munster Circuit. 65 

they acquired from the MacCarthy family were called 
*' the estate of the Butcher of Conscience/^ ^ 

It appears that between provincial courts and manor 
courts a great deal of money was expended at this 
time in litigation on the Munster circuit. Thus, in 
the memoir of Sir Richard Cox, I find that, previous 
to his going to the bar, he had a lucrative practice 
as an attorney in the manor court of Bandon, whereof 
his uncle was seneschal. His practice extended 
throughout a good part of the Munster circuit, and 
his ability was so conspicuous he was advised to go 
to the bar. He did so, and was called by the benchers 
of Gray's Inn, on the 9th of August, 1673. The Mon- 
day before his call, he argued the Readers case, on 
short warning, so much to the satisfaction of a nume- 
rous and distinguished legal audience, that Sir Francis 
Radcliffe — afterwards Earl of Derwentwater — offered 
him 1002. a year and other great advantages if he would 
settle near him in the north of England. Fortunately 
he declined this offer. He rose from rank to rank — 
was knighted, then created a baronet, Judge of the 
Common Pleas, Lord Chief Justice, Lord High Chan- 
cellor of Ireland, and several times Lord Justice. 

That he was possessed of much sagacity, the mode 
in which he -tested the accuracy, or rather the in- 
accuracy, of a deserter from the camp of James II., 
may be quoted as a proof. When the forces of Wil- 
liam and James were encamped upon opposite banks 
of the river Boyne, Mr. Cox was then Secretary to 
Sir Robert Southwell, a minister in attendance on 

» Gibson's " History of Cork," vol. ii. p. 144. 

1-' 



(^ The Munster Circuit. 

King William. Sir Boberfc, on Mr, Oox's informa- 
tion, informed King William of the strength, of the 
Jacobite forces. An officer was brought before the 
king^ who had lately deserted from the Irish camp, 
and he stated the number and position of James's 
troops with such confidence that he quite startled 
the commander of the allied army, for they were 
nearly double the number given by Mr. Cox. The 
king, in much trepidation, sent for Sir Eobert South- 
well, and told him he must have been misinformed, 
for the forces of the Irish were far more numerous than 
he was led to believe. 

Sir Eobert, much chagrined, spoke to Mr. Cox, 
asking how " he could have made so serious a blunder.^' 
Mr. Cox bade him " not be in the least alarmed, for 
he made his report, not upon mere conjecture, but 
on undoubted authority.'^ 

^^ Let us, sir,'' he said, '^ test the accuracy of this 
fellow.^' 

^' How can this be done now V^ inquired Sir Robert 
Southwell. 

^rLet him pass through our camp,'' replied Mr. 
Cox. /^Let him survey it at his leisure, and then, 
when he has completed his survey, let him report to 
his Majesty what he computes the number of our army 
to be." 

This excellent suggestion greatly pleased the king, 
and it was at once adopted. The Irish deserter was 
brought through the various portions of the camp, and 
allowed every opportunity of making a careful scrutiny. 
When he had finished he returned to King William's 
tent, and confidently asserted that his army was more 



The Munster Circuit. 6j 

than double the strength William actually knew them 
to consist of. He dismissed the deserter with a sting- 
ing reproof as a ''conceited ill-guesser, and highly 
commended the sagacity of Mr. Cox, who so cleverly 
discovered the falsehood of the statement.' 

Mr. Cox, native of the county of Cork, most pro- 
bably went the Munster circuit, and had for oo- 
circuiters Sir Richard Nagle, born at Anakessy, near 
Mallow, in the county of Cork, Sir Stephen Kice, and 
Sir Theobold Butler, also Munster men, very eminent 
lawyers and contemporaries. 

When King William had places to bestow. Sir 
Eichard Cox was sure not to be forgotten. He was 
made Recorder of Waterf ord, on the Munster circuit ; 
but this post not being deemed sufficient reward for 
his services, and a seat on the Irish Common Pleas 
Bench being vacant, he exchanged the Recordership 
of Waterford for the Court of Common Pleas. Here 
he was not allowed to remain long absent from 
Munster. He was sent to Cork in rather a singular 
capacity for a common law judge — military governor. 
A brief correspondence between him and Sir James 
Cotter, an adherent of King James II., is so creditable 
to both writers, that I think it merits preservatioci 
here. Sir Richard Cox, under date of 1691, thus ad- 
dresses his old friend : — 

"Oorfc, /liZyS, 1691. 
" Sib, — ^Upon the score of our former acquaintance, 
and the civility you have used to our friends whilst 
you were governor here and since, I think myself 

« Harris's •' life dt Cox," p. 210. 

F 2 



68 The Munster Circuit 

obliged to let you know that I have both station and 
inclination to serve you. If it should happen that you 
threw yourself upon me without capitulation (for your 
party is certainly ruined, and will every minute decay), 
you shall, undoubtedly be used as a man of honour; 
but, if you are of this opinion, bring oflf a« many as 
you can, and their arms, because your terms will be 
so much the better. This will seem odd if you don't 
apprehend the case desperate ; but because I am sure 
it is so, therefore you have this friendly advertisement 
from, sir, 

" Your very faithful friend and servant, 

" RiCHABD Cox. 
'' To the Hon. Sir James Cotter.'' 

Sir James Cotter thus replied : — 

"SiE, — ^Notwithstanding our former acquaintance, 
it seems you do not know me. Whatever I might 
have done with sitting still, when laid aside in civili- 
ties — which for justice sake I distributed without dis- 
tinction — I am now convinced, and will, I doubt not, 
be in a condition to return your kindness ; for really 
your case is so desperate that you will soon have an 
occasion for it, and be confident, in anything that is 
just, you find me, sir, 

*' Your very afiectionate friend and servant, 

''James Cottbe." 

Notwithstanding the hardihood of Sir James Cotter's 
letter, his belief in the strength of his cause, and the 
desperate nature of his friend's. Sir Bichard Cox's, 



The Munster Circuit. 69 

proved fallacies ; he was obliged to sue for grace from 
Sir Bichard, which was promptly given. 

It seems not very creditable that the judges of 
assize were allowed to sell protections. In the '' Auto- 
biography of Sir Eichard Cox^' is the following 
entry : — 

'' In March (1692) the Lord Chief Justice and I 
went judges of assize to Cork and Waterford^ and^ by 
order of the Government, we gave printed protections 
to the Irish, for which we had sixpence a piece, so that 
we got 300 li a piece that journey." 

I am enabled, by the kindness of the late Thomas 
Kelly, Esq., a promising member of the Munster cir- 
cuit, who has been snatched away by death, to preserve 
the names of sbme eminent members of the bar in the 
early part of the eighteenth century. 

In a correspondence during the year 1715 between 
Mr. John Kelly of Lymerick, and Mr. Patrick Creagh, 
merchant in Dublin, the former requests the latter to 
deliver a letter annexed with this injunction : — " But 
before you doe it be soe kind as to get Counselor Cala- 
han's, or some other good counsePs opinion, if the 
under cash-note bears interest, as being past before the 
act was made for the like. You may have it by the 
help of Mr. Grady, at or under two plate cobbs." * 

* I have not been able to ascertain the exact value of this 
coin, which, in an old dictionary, dated 1719, is stated to be *' a 
foreign coin," of what country I am not in a position to state. 
In a subsequent letter I find the words, *' the cost of two cobbs 
or two crowns," which would make a cobb equal to five shillings 
of our money. As a proof of the convivial habits ot the bar at 
this period, I quote the following extract of a letter from Mr. 



70 The Munster Circuit* 



it 



We learn from that very excellent work, Gilbert's 
History of Dublin,'* that the old Pour Courts in 
Christ Church Place was approached from a lane bear- 
ing the very infelicitous name of BeM. A tourist thus 
records his impression of this rather strange locality : 
— " This was certainly a very profane and unseemly sou- 
briquet to give a place that adjoins a cathedral whose 
name was Christ's Church ; and my young mind, when 
I first entered there, was struck with its unseemliness. 
Yes, and more especially when over the arched entrance 
there was pointed out to me the very image of the 
Devil, carved in oak, and not unlike one of those 
hideous black figures hung over tobacconists' shops. 
This locality of Hell, and this representation of his 
Satanic Majesty, were famous in these days even be- 
yond the walls of Dublin. I remember well, on 
my return to my native town, after my first visit to 
Dublin, being asked by my play-fellows ' had I been 

Kelly, addressed to Mr. John Blake, Dnblin. In this letter Mr. 
Kelly mentions that there existed a diversity of opinion as to 
the interest on promissory notes being payable. Mr. Wall 
having given an opinion " that interest was payable," Mr. Kelly 
says : — " I have yesterday writt to Mr. Wall to consider better 
of ye opinion, and that two conncills in Cork, and Counsellor 
Stackpole of Ennis, was of a different opinion, and alsoe writ 
to my friend in Dublin to take a glass with Counsellor Ffrench, 
Blake, or Calahan, and at ye cost of two cobbs or two crowns to 
get either of their opinions in that case on a note of the same 
tenor and date of yours, but persons' names different ; and if 
the opinion was that it did not bear interest, to show it to 
Mr. Wall, which may oblige him to retract from his former 
opinion ; and, if it did bear interest, to send it to me by post, 
and say nothing about it to Wall." 



The Munster Circuit 71 

in Hell, and had I seen the Devil/ Its very name 
reached Scotland, and Boms, the poet, in his story of 
''Death and Dr. Hornbook,'' alludes to it when he 

says: — 

" Bnt this that I am goin* to tell, 
Wliioh lately on a night befell, 
Is jnst as trae as the De'iFs in Hell, 
Or DnbUn city." 

In this place the members of both branches of the 
legal profession — barristers and solicitors — had their 
chambers. Advertisements were common : — '' To be 
let, famished apartments in Hell. They are well suited 
for a lawyer.'' Here the great members of the bar — 
Prime, Serjeant Malone, Philip Tisdall, Sir Toby Butler, 
and other famous practitioners, kept their revels, and 
here, no doubt Mr. Patrick Creagh, while taking a glass 
and expending two cobbs, as directed by Mr. Kelly, 
obtained the opinion of Sir Toby Butler, which, I take 
it, was in corroboration of that given by Mr. Wall, 
" that the interest on the promissory note was payable, 
for, by^ a short letter, dated Lymerick, 22nd October, 
1715, we read: — 

**Mb. Pat Creagh, — Self in Cork, and on my return 
had yours 17th, with Sir Theo. Butler's opinion on the 
note, for wch am thankful. 

"Yours, "J. K." 

Sir Theobald Butler was a very distinguished 
member of the Irish bar. On the promotion of 
Serjeant Sir Richard Bamewall to the Exchequer 
bench, in 1688, Sir Theobald was appointed third 
Serjeant, and the following year he became Solicitor- 



72 The Munster Circuit. 

General. Some amusing anectotes are related of him. 
His habits are said to have been too convivial ; and 
when a very momentous case, in which he was leading 
counsel^ was set down for argument, the wary solicitor 
made a stipulation that Sir Toby should not drink a 
glass of wine, or other spirituous liquor, until the argu- 
ment was over. Sir Toby pledged his word, and, 
during the progress of the case, made one of his very 
best arguments, which carried the case triumphantly, 
to the solicitor's delight. ** Now, Sir Toby,'' he said, 
^' see the eftects of refraining from drinhing. If you 
had taken your usual dose of claret, you could not have 
been so clear as you were to-day." 

'^Now we have won," replied the toper, ''I may 
as well confess that, feeling the necessity of some re- 
fresher, I got two hot loaves, which I steeped in two 
bottles of claret, and / eat them" 

Sir Theobald Butler, with two other eminent counsel 
— Richard Malone and Sir Stephen Rice — ^were heard 
at the bar of the House of Lords in Ireland on 
February 28, 1703, against the Sacramental Test 
Act, which required all persons having any office, 
civil or military (including corporate officers , to 
receive the Sacrament according to the usage of the 
Church of Ireland, and, in default of so doing, the 
office to be void; and whoever should continue to 
act in such office, having neglected to qualify him- 
self, was liable to the penalties imposed by the Test 
Act. 

The effect of this was, of course, to disable Roman 
Catholics from holding any office, and the arguments of 
counsel were very able, especially that of Sir Theobald 



The Munster Circuit. 73 

Butler. As this is not the place for them, I merely 
mention where they are to be found/ 

These were unhappy times for all those who re- 
garded the Pope as Head of the Church, and we, who 
live in more tolerant days, must rejoice in our being 
allowed the free exercise of our religion and the 
freedom of our civil rights. It was otherwise in the 
reign of George I., as appears from a letter now before 
me, dated — 

" Lymerick, Ibth June, 1716. 
*' Mb. Pat Cbeagh, — Sir, I have your^s twelve curt, 
and immediately delivered it enclosed to Mr. Davis, 
who admired at your long silence about it. I alsoe 
note my designed enemys ' have not yet stood against 
me, nor do they resolve it, finding I was prepared to 
opose their allegations, and to know who they were 
that was to sign against me, many of whom refused 
signing; and others came to me, and excused it, 
saying they were put upon by some others more mali- 
tions; and, notwithstanding the designe looks to be 
over, I am for Mr. Moylan's giving the fee to the 
Solicitor- General to introduce yt, or any other bysi- 
ness I may have yt way another time." I am, with 
all kind salutes, as usual, 

*^ Your humble servant, 

• Vide Plowden's Appendix, " Curry's Historical Eeview," and 
O'Flanagan's'' Lives of the Lord Chancellors of Ireland/' vol. i. 
p. 514. 

• Popish Discoverers. 

• ITiis looks very like a fee for protection. The Solicitor- 
General at the time was William Whitshed ; afterwards the 



74 The Munster Circuit, 

A DiscovEBEB Baffled. 

It is very pleasant to have to record many acts of 
kindness evinced by Protestants towards Catholic 
friends and neighbours during the penal days, such as 
the following. A Catholic gentleman of the county 
of Kerry, named Duggan, having notice that a Dis- 
coverer^ was about taking proceedings to deprive him 
of his estate, was informed by a Protestant friend of 
high position in the county of Cork — Mr. Freeman, of 
Castlebar — that he (Mr. Freeman) was willing to take 
the initiative in such proceedings, and thus save the 
property for Mr. Duggan, which that gentleman heard 
with gratitude. 

Judge Mr. Freeman's surprise when he was visited 
by the Discoverer in a chaise, going post to Dublin ; 
and, as there were few inns on the road at the time, 
it was customary to halt each evening at some house 
of hospitable repute. The Discoverer made no secret 
of the purpose of his errand, being unaware of the 
great intimacy subsisting between his host and his 
intended victim. Mr. Freeman asked "if it was con- 
venient for the traveller to give him a seat in the 
chaise, as he found he had pressing business in Dublin, 
and was willing to share the expenses of the journey.^' 
The traveller was only too glad to have the company 
of so reputable a country gentleman, and also to have 
his travelling expenses lessened, and away they drove. 

That night they halted near Clonmel at the house of 

Chief Justice, who acted so oppressively in the case of the 
printer of the Draper Battles. 
' Popish Discoverers. 



The Munsier Circuit. 75 

a hard-drmking^ fox-hunting squire— -a mutual friend 
of both Mr. Duggan and Mr. Freeman. The latter no 
sooner informed the Tipperary squire of the object of 
the journey of both himself and his companion than 
the jovial squire proposed to keep the Discoverer in 
such a state of inebriety he would not be able to leave 
the house until Mr. Freeman had made all safe for 
their mutual friend Duggan. Accordingly, next 
morning, the Discoverer had such a splitting head- 
ache he was quite unfit for prosecuting his journey, 
and, as Mr. Freeman was pressed for time, he was 
compelled to travel alone. The result was that when, 
about a week later, the Discoverer reached Dublin, 
he was rather taken aback on finding that the vari- 
ous denominations of land — ^heretofore in the posses- 
sion of the Papist Duggan — were then owned by 
that staunch Protestant gentleman, Deane Freeman of 
Castlecor ; and to this day some nominal rent-charge 
is paid by the Duggan family to the representatives of 
Deane Freeman for the lands thus protected. Many 
similar acts are recorded, but this must suffice as a 
sample. 



^6 The Munster Circuit. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Sir Constantine Phipps. — Chief Justice Pyne. — ^A corrupt Judge 
tricked. — Crimes on the Munster Circuit. — Abduction. — ^Ab- 
duction Clubs. — Case of the Misses Kennedy. — ^Trial and 
Conviction of the Culprits. — Sentence on Messrs. Kimberly 
and Meade. — Point raised by Mr. Kimberly over-ruled. 

Me. Smyth, in his sketches of the legal history of 
Ireland, gives a very deplorable account of the Irish 
judicial bench at the end of Queen Anne^s reign. He 
says, "Judicial guilt, at the close of Anne's reign, 
was merely not uncommon, but general. Such as were 
of the Privy Council signed a report contrary to 
evidence which was laid before them at that board. 
The puisne judges concurred in this falsity without the 
warrant of any document. One of the body solicited 
the cause in England, and exhibited to statesmen a 
proof that, though Irish commerce was restricted, its 
judges made a lucrative traffic to the Crown, and, by 
parity of reason, to private parties, of the property, 
liberty, and lives of fellow-subjects.'^ * 

No wonder, then, we find the clergy, magistrates, 
and all persons residing within the area of the Munster 
Circuit, addressing the Queen in 1713 on behalf of a 
very upright man. Lord Chancellor Sir Constantine 

* Smyth's " Law Officers of Ireland," p. 302. 



The Munster Circuit, J7 

P&ipps^ who had incarred the displeasure of some 
members of the Irish Parliament, who addressed the 
Qaeen for his removal. At the Quarter Sessions for 
^e County of Cork, held at Bandon, on July 12th, 
1713, the high sherifE, justices of the peace, clergy, 
and grand jury prepared the following address, which 
was presented to Queen Anne by Lord Bolingbroke : — 

" We cannot but with grief and great concern take 
notice that the unhappy and fatal dissensions which 
reigned and were fomented some years past do yet 
continue in this kingdom, notwithstanding the inde- 
fettigable zeal and application of the Bight Honourable 
Sir Constantino Phipps, Lord High Chancellor, and 
your other excellent ministers, to the contrary. We 
cannot but join, with great pleasure and satisfaction, 
your Majesty^s most loyal Lords in Parliament, and 
your faithful clergy in Convocation assembled, in their 
dutiful and humble request to continue your royal 
countenance and favour to that great Minister whose 
impartial justice, consummate abilities, and unbiassed 
affection to the Constitution, in Church and State, are 
equal to those great trusts in which your Majesty^s 
unerring wisdom for the safety and honour of your 
Majesty^s interests and the common good of your 
people has placed him.'^* 

The addresses and counter-addresses in the case of 
Sir Constantino Phipps must have puzzled the Queen, 
whose health was then very precarious. She died 
before any action was taken, for the Chancellor re- 
mained in office upon the accession of King George I. 

* O'Flanagan's " Lives of the Lord Chancellors of Ireland," 
voL i. p. 549. 



yS The Munster CircuiL 

Some curious stories are told of the corruption of 
judges in those days. One may be given as an in- 
stance. Chief Justice Pyne, who was appointed Chief 
Justice of the King's Bench in 1694^ had the repu- 
tation of being influenced in his judicial capacity by 
gifts. He had landed property on the banks of the 
Blackwater, in Munster, called Waterpark, to which 
he repaired after the fatigues of the Munster Circuit. 
Being of a bucolic taste, he cultivated good breeds of 
cattle, and was noted for the value of his stock. The 
trial of a very important record, in which the claims 
of a Mr. Weller were opposed to those of a Mr. Nangle, 
was fixed for the Cork Assizes. On the day before 
that on which the Chief Justice was to leave Waterpark 
for Cork, he received a present of twenty-five splendid 
heifers from Mr. Weller, the defendant in the action. 
The Chief Justice returned a very gracious message to 
Mr. Weller by his steward, who came in charge of the 
cattle. This man was treated with great courtesy. He 
returned home to his master, well pleased with the 
urbanity and kindness of Chief Justice Pyne. The 
judge set forth next day for Cork. When driving along 
in his coach-and-six, passing near Bathcormac, where 
the bridge spans the Bride River, the road was blocked 
up by a drove of cattle. The Chief Justice looked out 
and beheld a prime herd of most valuable shorthorns. 
He beckoned a man who was driving the cattle to 
approach him, and demanded, — 

^' Whose beasts are these, my man ? '* 

'' They belong, please your honour, to a great gen- 
tleman of these parts. Judge Pyne, your honour,^' 
replied the countryman. 



The Munster Circuit 79 

'' Indeed ! ^^ cried the Chief Justice in much sur- 
prise, '* and where are you taking them now ? ^^ 

*' They were grazing in my master, Mr. Nangle's, 
farm, your honour ; and as the assizes are coming on 
at Cork, my master thought) the judge might like to see 
that he took good care of them, so I^m taking them to 
Waterpark, to show them to the judge/' 
. The judge felt the delicacy of Mr. Nangle's mode of 
giving his present. Putting his hand in his pocket, 
he presented the herd with a guinea, said he was Judge 
Pyne, and '^ that as his master, Mr. Nangle, had taken 
such good care of his cattle, he, the judge, would take 
good care of him.^^ 

At parting, he desired the herd to give the animals 
to his steward at Waterpark, and bade his coachman 
" drive on,^^ which he did. 

During the hearing of the action of Nangle v, Weller, 
the bearing of the Chief Justice seemed, at first, quite 
in favour of the defendant, and that gentleman nodded 
often to his attorney, as much as to say, '^It^s all right; 
I have secured the judge.'^ But as the case went on, 
and it was the province of the Chief Justice to charge 
the jury, he put the case so strongly for the plaintiff 
that, to the dismay of Mr. Weller, the jury brought in 
a verdict for Mr. Nangle without leaving the box, and 
the judge certified for immediate execution. Mr. 
Nangle and his counsel were, of course, quite satisfied. 
No exceptions were taken to the judge's charge, and 
the case was won. When, on his return from the 
Munster Circuit, the learned judge arrived at Water- 
park, his first question was, — 

" Are the cattle all safe ? '* 



'8o The Munster Circuit. 



li 



Perfectly, my lord/' replied the steward. 

'* Where have you put the beasts I received when 
leaving for the Cork Assizes ? '' 

" They are where you left them, my lord/^ 

" Where I left them — ^at is impossible ! '' ex- 
claimed the Chief Justice. '^ I left them on the road, 
near Rathcormac.'^ 

The steward was puzzled. He thought the wits of 
the Chief Justice were not so clear as those of a chief 
justice ought to be. 

'^ Con,^' said Sir Richard P^ne, putting on his hat, 
" 1*11 have a look at them myself .*' 

The steward led the way across the lawn to a grassy 
paddock, and there were found within twenty-five fine 
heifers cropping the grass, as happy as if their late 
toaster retained his property. 

''I don^t mean these,*' said the Chief Justice, rather 
testily. '^ I want to see those fifty shorthorns which 
came after I left home.*' 

*' Bedad ! the long and the short of it is, them's all 
the cattle on the land, except what we bred ourselves, 
my lord.** 

And so it was ; the sagacious Mr. Nangle had so 
timed the departure of his cattle as to meet the Chief 
Justice on the road. He had properly drilled his herd, 
who, with the tact of his country, relished the plot of 
" doing** the judge, for Mr. Nangle had no great faith 
in the integrity of that functionary. The judge*s 
coach was no sooner out of sight than the herdsman 
turned his cattle, and before nightfall they were once 
more in the familiar fields of Mr. Nangle, where they 
were reared. 



The Munster Circuit. 8i 

The Chief Justice felt he had been outwitted, but, of 
course, had no power of showing his disappointment. 
I hope it taught him a lesson, or that the whole story 
is but a legend of the Munster Circuit. 



Cf 



I cannot tell how the truth may be, 
IVe told the tale as 'twas told to me.*' 



About this period a dispute arose relative to taxation 
between the town of Youghal and the county of Cork. 
I suppose some landowner, desirous to save the expense 
of contested litigation, which would fall upon the 
general public, suggested arbitration, for the case was 
left to the decision of the judges — not qua judges, but, 
as the order informs us, " in their private capacity- — 
and such decision as they should make was to be taken 
as final.^' Mr. Smyth, who records this circumstance, 
adds, " This proceeding must be considered a strong 
proof of Irish politeness, as I firmly believe it would 
be impossible to obtain a similar meeting at Serjeant's 
Inn, or to persuade that great body to act in a double 
capacity." ' 

While Mr. Justice Cox was going circuit, in 1700, 
he had to mourn the loss of his colleague on the circuit. 
Chief Justice Hely, who died at Ennis on the 7th 
of April, 1700, leaving Judge Cox to complete the 
business. It is possible his grief for the loss of his 
associate judge, who was also the Chief of the Common 
Pleas, was in some degree mitigated by Mr. Justice Cox 
obtaining the Chief Justiceship, which he did on the 
16th of May, 1700. 

» Smyth's " Law Officers of Ireland," p. 301. 





82 The Munster Circuit 

Some very heinous crimes occupied the judges on 
the Munster Circuit during the eighteenth century. 
On the 7th of May, 1706, Mary Barberry was tried at 
Cork for causing the death of her husband by poison. 
The evidence was clear, and the jury without hesitation 
returned a verdict of wilful murder. The wretched 
woman underwent the fearful sentence of being burnt 
at Gallows-green, near Cork. 

Although Ireland in general was free from attempts 
to replace the House of Stuart upon the throne of Great 
Britain, some few cases of treason were discovered, which 
employed the time of the judges on the Munster Circuit. 
At the Lent Assizes, in 1719, Captain Henry Ward and 
Francis Fitzgerald were indicted as traitors, for en- 
listing soldiers to aid the cause of the Pretender. 
They were tried and found guilty. The usual sentence 
following a conviction for high treason was inflicted. 
They were hanged and quartered on Gullows-green. 

William Roe, who sympathized with the House of 
Stuart, was more fortunate. His ofEence was cer- 
tainly a minor one. He was heard to give expression 
to the wish, ^^ May King James III. enjoy his own 
again.^' These seditious words caused him to be tried 
for seditious language. He was convicted, and sen- 
tenced to stand in the pillory and be severely whipped. 
The Cork pillory was considered quite an improved 
engine of punishment. It turned on a swivel, so that 
the full front of the tortured convict presented a fair 
mark for the stale eggs, the damaged fruit from Seville's 
groves, and other unsavoury missiles aimed by the 
rabble rout against the culprit in statu quo,* 

* Gibson's " History of Cork," vol. ii. p. 205. 



The Munsier Circuit. 83 

Harbouring Tories and Eapparees was an indictable 
oflfence, and in 1739 a gentleman with the Celtic name 
of Murtagh Oge O'Sullivan, of Eyres, in the county of 
Cork, wishing to disclaim any desire of being even 
suspected of such impropriety, publicly advertised his 
disrelish at such imputation being cast upon his name, 
credit, and reputation, and his readiness to take his trial 
for the same at the next General Assizes. I am not 
able, from the misfortune which befell the records of 
the last century in the Crown Office, Cork, their being 
partly destroyed by two elements — fire, and water used 
in quenching the fire — to ascertain if Murtagh Oge 
O'Sullivan was able to substantiate his assertion of 
having no connexion with Tories or Rapparees. 

It is sometimes dangerous to speak ill of great men ; 
it is also a matter of danger to speak well of them, 
especially if in doing so we imply censure on men in 
authority. Thus, at the Summer Assizes held at Cork 
in 1741, a citizen named Richard Dooley declared in 
open Court that he did not expect justice while the 
Mayor sat on the bench. " This slur on the judicial 
conduct of the Eight Worshipful Richard Bradshaw, 
who was then Mayor of Cork, was properly resented, 
and Richard Dooley was fined ten pounds for his indis- 
creet assertion.'' 

I remember being much amused when on circuit, 
a hundred years later than Richard Dooley's time, 
hearing a prisoner, on being asked '^ was he ready for 
his trial," reply, "No, me lord; the Fermoy coach 
won't be in for another hour." 

" What has that to do with your trial ? '' demanded 
Judge Perrin. 

G 2 



84 The Mimster Circuit, 



" Bekase I expect Captain Collis to come by it, me 
lord, and he^U see me justified/^ 

Captain Collis, the poor man's landlord, was a highly 
respectable magistrate of the county of Cork. 

The prison officials on the Mnnster Circuit some- 
times got into trouble by their leniency. Thus, at 
the Autumn Assizes of 1751, Bryan Bonworth, the 
gaoler of the Cork Gaol, was sentenced to pay a fine 
of forty pounds, and to be kept in close custody 
until the fine was paid, for not having performed his 
duty in having one Timothy Burke branded in the 
hand with a hot iron, as he was directed to do — he, 
knowing the same to be his duty, used instead a cold 
iron. 

Some bold attempts at escape linger among the 
traditions of the Munster Circuit, and deserve a place 
in its history. One of the most daring took place 
while the judge was passing sentence of death on a 
man named Matthew Callaghan, convicted at the Cork 
Spring Assizes of 1753 for robbing Captain Capel. 
Scarcely had the judge concluded a feeling address to 
the prisoner, ^'reminding him his hours were num- 
bered, and he should make good use of the brief space 
which intervened between that day and the time fixed 
for his execution,^' than the convict with a bound 
leaped from the dock, though he had his bolts on, and 
made his escape from the court. Such a daring 
exploit deserved more success than befell Matthew 
Callaghan. He was captured the same day in the 
precincts of the Court House, and brought back to 
prison. His sentence was carried out. We can well 
imagine the popular sympathy being enlisted in favour 



The Munster Circuit 85 

of a man who made so bold an effort for dear life, and 
cannot wonder when we learn that the informer who 
discovered on him was so ill-treated by the mob 
(having had one of his ears cut off) that his life was 
despaired of. 

The crime of abduction — carrying off young girls 
possessed of fortune — ^has been an offence committed 
since very early times. Maids, wives, and widows 
have been the object, either of cupidity or amorous 
designs, from the days of Paris, son of Priam, to the 
attempt of Mr. Garden of Barnane to carry off Miss 
Arbuthnot in recent years. Abduction caused the siege 
and fall of Troy ; it led to the invasion of Ireland by the 
Anglo-Normans ; it induced the Irish House of Com- 
mons to pass an Act in 1634 for punishing all those 
who *' carried away maydens that be inheritors. ^^ This 
statute was found insu£Scient to prevent the frequent 
commission of this offence, so the Irish Parliament of 
1707 made /orctfeZe abduction a capital felony, and this 
Act also rendered those " who carried off heiresses, 
though not forcibly, incapable of enjoying their wives^ 
fortunes.^' The statute recites how "one John 
O'Bryan, being a person of no property, did forcibly 
abduct and carry away Margaret McNamara junior, 
she being entitled to a fortune of two thousand pounds 
sterling,^^ which fortune of two thousand pounds the 
statute provides should not be touched by the afore- 
said John O'Bryan. As a proof of the frequency of 
these outrages, I may mention that associations ior 
carrying off heiresses existed during the last century 
in Ireland. They were termed "Abduction Clubs.'' 
The members bound themselves by oath to proi^te 



86 The Munster Circuit 

the success of their brother-members in carrying off 
such young, or old, girls as were the object of the 
members' choice. In order to ascertain who were 
eUgible for the proof of their high consideration, the 
clubs had their spies and emissaries. They paid 
servants for information respecting the fortune of 
daughters of the masters, and means of obtaining ad- 
mission to the houses where the daughters of neigh- 
bouring gentry resided, and for such details of their 
masters' houses and families as it was prudent to 
ascertain before the abductors ventured to carry off the 
young lady. The members of these clubs were usually 
what was known in Ireland as '^ squireens ''—idle, 
dissolute, needy young fellows, drunken, debauched, 
improvident in their habits. Most of them were 
younger sons of country .gentlemen, hangers-on or 
poor relations of respectable families — men who to dig 
were not able, and too proud to beg ; they looked to 
making a good — that is to say, a rich — marriage as 
their only chance for giving them a station in society. 
When a rich girl was marked for prey, the members of 
the club in whose district she had the misfortune to 
reside drew lots as to who should be the abductor. 
When this was decided, and the person on whom the 
lot had fallen had no acquaintance with the object of 
his choice, his first care was to procure an introduc- 
tion, and, if possible, gain her affections. Public balls, 
if they occurred at the time; meetings at private 
houses, if they moved in the same circle ; race-courses 
or hunt-fixtures, if the fair lady was of a sporting 
character, were all availed of. The squireen was 
usually a good dancer and a daring horseman. When 



The Munster Circuit, 87 

he got introduced to the ladj^ he paid her marked 
attention. If he could marry her in fade ecclesicBj it 
was so done; but there were romantic young ladies 
who preferred the eclat and risk of the abduction^ and 
this put the love (!) and courage of the youth to the 
proof by outraging the law and perilling life by car- 
rying off the lady. 

This bad example of the upper classes was sure to 
find imitators among the lower^ and farmers and 
labourers followed the mode of gaining their wives 
very frequently. Our Irish novelist — Oarleton — ^very 
graphically describes a case of the kind^ and also the 
prevailing notion the offence punishable by statute was 
not committed if it appeared the female was the abduc- 
tor, and not the male. To give a prima fade appearance 
to this state of the case, the female was often placed in 
front on the saddle, and the man behind, so that it 
appeared she carried him off, and not he. Several 
instances of abduction linger in Ireland. One of the 
most remarkable was the case of two sisters — Catherine 
and Anne Kennedy. They were daughters of Mr. 
Kennedy of Eathmeadan, in the confines of the counties 
of Waterford and Kilkenny. Their widowed mother 
and these two young ladies moved in a respectable 
circle, each of the daughters being entitled from their 
father^s assets to a legacy of two thousand pounds. 
Their orphaned lot and considerable fortune, magnified 
by report to a much larger sum, exposed them to the 
dangers of abduction, and the members of the nearest 
club to their residence drew lots for carrying them off. 
Two persons who claimed to be gentlemen — a Mr. 
Strange of UUard, in the county of Kilkenny, and Mr 



88 The Munster Circuit, 

Garrett Byrne, of Ballyann, county Carlow, were the 
two on whom the lots fell They were bold, un- 
scrupulous, and needy. They had spent nearly what 
little they ever possessed, and, immersed in debt, were 
ready to adopt any expedient to better their condition. 
They ar^ said to have been of very different dispo- 
sition. Strange is represented as a man of a harsh, 
irritable temper, resolute in carrying out any project 
on which he fixed his mind, and very unscrupulous in 
what means he employed to accomplish his aim. Byrne, 
on the contrary, was mild and gentle, though courageous, 
and, also impelled by distressed circumstances, he did 
not shrink from the risk he had to face in committing 
this deed. He had taken a great liking to Miss Cathe- 
rine Kennedy, who is said to have been a girl of a 
gentle, loving nature ; while her sister won the regard 
of Strange by showing a temper similar to his own. 
They mixed in the same society, and at evening parties, 
balls, and race-meetings, picnics and other social 
gatherings, the young men strove to improve the occa- 
sions, and ingratiate themselves in the esteem of the 
co-heiresses. The friends and mother of the girls, 
who knew that these men were penniless, would 
instantly have scouted their pretensions if they pre- 
sented themselves as suitors. As the sisters were both 
extremely young — Catherine only fifteen, and Anne a 
year younger — ^no thought of marriage for them was as 
yet dreamt of. They promised to be very good-looking, 
Anne the more attractive of the two. 

At Graiguenamanna — a small town, not very remote 
from Mrs. Kennedy^s house— on the night of the 17th 
of April, 1779, a theatrical representation took place. 



The Munster Circuit, 89 

II was numerously and respectably attended. The 
little theatre was crowded. The rank and fashion of 
Kilkenny and the neighbouring county of Waterford 
were attracted to see the play^ and the Misses Kennedy 
were in the boxes, chaperoned by their mother and 
aunt. They enjoyed the recreation heartily, poor girls, 
and as they laughed at the fun of the comedy, they 
little thought the after-piece was a tragedy, in which 
they were to enact the role of heroines. Yet so it was. 
Before the curtain fell on the closing scene, intelligence 
reached them that Strange and Byrne were prepared to 
carry them off that night on their way home. In fright 
and fear they left the theatre, and sought shelter in a 
room in the house. The girls were accompanied by 
their mother, aunt, and some male friends, who deter- 
mined to resist this audacious attempt. For some time 
all was quiet, but, after considerable delay, the attempt 
was made with such violence, the door was burst in, 
and the friends of the poor girls were overpowered. 
The assailants were armed with swords and pistols, 
and, despite the utmost resistance of the young girls 
and their friends, these miscreants carried them off. 
Catherine was placed on a horse before Byrne, and Anne 
before Strange. They were joined by some females, 
sisters or relatives of these men. This was for the 
purpose of allaying the fears of the poor young ladies, 
and it had that effect at first. 

They were carried that night to a place called Kil- 
masham, nearly twenty miles distant from Graigue- 
namanna. While on this lonely night-ride, they were 
constantly asked to consent to be married to their com- 
panions, but each stoutly refused. The females also 



90 The Munster Circuit 

joined in their entreaties, and declared " if the girls 
refused compliance they would abandon them/' While 
at Kilmasham, some food was provided ; a person, said 
to be a priest, was produced to perform the marriage 
ceremony. Still they refused, when both Byrne and 
Strange swore *' that if they persisted in their refusal 
they would be harassed to death by going from place 
to place until they consented, but that if they complied 
they would instantly be restored to their friends/' 
Induced by this promise, they became calm, and a short 
ceremony took place. They then demanded the per- 
formance of the promise, and were told it would be 
complied with next day. Both sisters refused to retire 
to rest until a female accompanied each of them, which 
was granted; but these faithless women deserted 
them during the night, when the men occupied their 
places. 

For some days they were carried about the country, 
and brought to the house of a person who was also said 
to be a priest. He tried to induce the ladies to live 
with these men, whom he called their husbands, and be 
on friendly terms with them, but they denied these 
men were their husbands. On this the scoundrels 
swore ^^ they would put the girls into the coal- 
mines at Castlecomer,'' and Strange in a rage 
struck Anne on the face, a blow which rankled deep 
in her mind. 

Thus, from day to day and week to week, until a 
weary month had passed, were these delicate girls 
carried through the counties of Kilkenny, Carlow, 
Waterford, and Kildare, to Dublin. They halted at a 
small village on the north side of Dublin Bay, called 



The Munster Circuit 91 

Rash. Here they did not remain long. The men, I 
suppose, were afraid that, as pursuit was hot after 
them, they might be tracked, so resolved to have the 
sea between them and those who were bent on their 
arrest. They placed their victims on board a vessel, 
and sailed for the Wicklow coast. Arrived ofiF Wick- 
low, the two abductors went on shore to purchase pro- 
visions, and while there they beheld the Revenue 
officers go on board their vessel. Feeling the game 
was up, they made their escape. A vessel was just 
starting from Arklow for South Wales, and took them 
on board. They reached Milford Haven in safety. 
When the Revenue officers came on board the vessel 
containing the captive ladies, the poor girls informed 
them of their sad story, and besought their protection, 
which was readily accorded. These officials took prompt 
steps to restore the young ladies to their afflicted 
mother and friends. 

The capture of the culprits was soon effected in 
Wales. They were made prisoners at Milford on the 
6th of July, and placed in Carnarvon Graol. 

There seems to have existed at first some doubt as to 
whether these men would be prosecuted. It was 
believed Catherine Kennedy had a great affection for 
Byrne, but Anne was resolved to convict Strange, 
whose conduct to her had been violent and harsh. A 
Mr. Hayes, a relation of the Kennedys, was determined 
to punish these meu, and, owing much to his exertions, 
the girls were induced to make their joint depositions 
before the Lord Chief Justice of the King^s Bench, 
Lord Annaly. The Attorney-General at that period 
was John Scott, afterwards Chief Justice and first 



92 The Munster Circuit. 

Earl of CloDmel. He was resolved, if possible, to 
make this case a terror to all abdactors, and, under 
his directions, Byrne and Strange were tried at Kil- 
kenny during the Lent Assizes, March, 1780. An 
attempt at defence was made. Letters were given in 
evidence for the prisoners, as if written by these young 
ladies, in which they actually invited these men to 
carry them off; but it turned out these letters were 
forged by Byrne's sister, who was heard to declare 
" she could imitate Anne Kennedy's handwriting so 
well no one could discern the difference/' Letters 
in the genuine handwriting of these ladies were 
also produced, for the purpose of showing they 
regarded the prisoners as their husbands, and were 
treated by them with great affection; but it was 
proved these letters were written by the young 
ladies under coercion, through fear of greater ill- 
usage, and when they were away from all pro- 
tection. 

The result of the trial was the conviction of fche 
abductors, and they were sentenced to be hanged. 

Every effort was made to obtain a commutation of 
their sentence. Their position in life, their respectable 
connexion with many high families, who made appli- 
cation to the Government on their behalf; but all in 
vain. Scott, then Attorney-General, insisted an 
example should be made, and the sentence of death 
was executed. I understand the ladies subsequently 
married, but not very happily. They had gained un- 
enviable notoriety, and, from that strange sympathy 
with crime so frequently found in Ireland, were regarded 
with aversion by the lower orders. 



The Munster Circuit, 93 

This was not the only case where the oflfence was 
punished with death. 

When Messrs. Kimberly and Meade were found 
guilty for abduction, and sentenced to death in 1730, 
the sentence was carried into effect. Mr. Kimberly, 
who was an attorney, raised a curious point to delay 
his execution. Great efforts were made to obtain a 
commutation of his sentence, and the Lords Justices 
having granted a respite, which included the day 
fixed for his execatiouy Mr. Kimberly contended 
"his sentence thereby lapsed, or, at all events, 
could not be carried into effect without a fresh 
order/' 

This was a poser for the sheriff, who consulted Judge 
Bernard as to the effect of a respite upon the sentence. 
The learned Judge said ^^ a respite did not affect the 
sentence — it only delayed its execution.^' Mr. Kim- 
berly had the case brought before the Privy Council, 
who, not being well acquainted with criminal law, 
desired it might be referred to the law oflScers of the 
Crown. These were among the most eminent lawyers 
at the Irish or any other Bar. Prime Serjeant 
Singleton,' the Attorney- General (Marley),* the Soli- 
citor-General (Jocelyn),' and Mr. Serjeant Bowes.' 
These gentlemen, having fully considered this knotty 
point, sent in their opinion. They agreed with Judge 
Bernard '' that the reprieve had no effect but merely to 

• The Prime Serjeant took precedence of the Attorney- 
General. This rank was abolished in 1804. 
" Afterwards Lord Chief Justice of the King'u Bench. 
' Afterwards Lord Jocelyn, Lord Chancellor. 
' Afterwards Lord Bowes, Lord Chancellor. 



94 The Munster Circuit, 

delay the carrying out of the sentence, and, in the 
present case, Mr. Kimherly could be lawfully executed 
at the termination of the time to which he was respited, 
without any fresh sentence/' He did suffer death 
accordingly. 



TJie Munster CircuiU 95 



CHAPTER VII. 

Death and Lament of O'Sallivan Beare.— Cork Barbers. — 
Assizes in 1764 and 1766.— Surviving the halter. 

The SuUivans seem to have given a great deal of 
employment to tlie crown counsel on the MuDster Cir- 
cuit. On tte 1 4tli May, 1 754, a detachment of soldiers, 
under the command of Lieutenant Appleton, was des- 
patched in pursuit of Morty Oge 0^ Sullivan, who, with 
others was charged with the murder of a man named 
John Puxley. O^SulUvan, sumamed Beare, was a 
native of Berehaven, near which Paxley was engaged 
in mining operations, and as it was not safe to arrest 
one of the most distinguished chiefs of the clan of 
O^Sullivan in his own wild district. Lieutenant Appleton 
was on the alert lest his party should be defeated. 
The lieutenant so timed his march as to arrive at a 
late hour, in order to surprise the 0' SuUivans, but they 
were not to be caught napping. They had sentinels 
posted on the road, who soon gave intelligence of th© 
enemy^s approach, but the troops were so close to 
O^Sullivan^s retreat the sentinels could do little more 
than warn him, and fly for their own safety. Appleton 
then ordered his men to encircle the house, and thus 
cut off any retreat, and O'SuUivan and his friends 
inside fired several shots at the soldiers. Finding the 



96 The Munster Circuit, 

military did not leave any opening for escape, O'Sullivan 
tried the stratagem of sending out his men one by one, 
thereby hoping the soldiers would run after them, and 
give him the opportunity of effecting his escape, but 
this was prevented by Lieutenant Appleton, who 
ordered his men not to leave their posts, but merely to 
fire at any one venturing to leave the house. At length 
O^SuUivan^s wife and child, borne by the nurse, came 
out, and implored quarter, which was readily granted. 
Lieutenant Appleton inquired ^' Who was in the house? '' 
She replied "Her husband and some of his men/' 
Then Appleton resolved to make him leave shelter, 
which he effected by having the house set on fire. 
O'SuUivan and his party then rushed forth. He 
attempted to shoot Lieutenant Appleton, but his 
blunderbuss twice snapped, and he was shot dead. 
Two of his companions — John Sullivan and Daniel 
Oonnell — ^were taken prisoners. They were lodged 
in Cork Gaol, tried at the Summer Assizes, found 
guilty and executed. The death of O'SuUivan, who 
bore the distinctive addition of Beare — from his resi- 
dence — was bewailed by the Celtic race. Callanan, the 
Cork poet, adopting the tradition that he was betrayed 
by one of his servants named Scully, wrote a spirited 
poem from which I give an extract : — 

<* The sTiii on Ivera no longer shines brightly, 
The voice of her mnsic no longer is sprightly ; 
No more to her maidens the light dance is dear, 
Since the death of our darling 0* Sullivan Beare. 

" Scully, thou false one, you basely betrayed him 
In his strong hour of need, when thy right hand should aid 
him. 



The Munster Circuit • 9 7 

He fed thee, he clad thee, yoa had all could delight thee, 
You left him, you sold him — may Heaveu requite thee." 

We are informed that O'SuUivan's body was lashed 
to the stern of a king^s cutter, and towed through the 
sea to Cork, where his head was spiked on the South 
gate. Connell, who fought for his master till he was 
taken prisoner, is the reputed author of the following 
lament— written in Cork Gaol the night before his 
execution. As a specimen of an Irish caoine, or death - 
wail, it is worth preserving. 

"Elegy on O^Sulmvan Bbare. 

'^ Murty, my dear and devoted master, you carried the 
sway for strength and generosity. It is my endless 
grief and sorrow — sorrow that admits of no comfort — 
that your fair head should be gazed at as a show upon 
a spike, and that your noble frame is without life. I 
have travelled with you, my dear and much-loved 
master, in foreign lands. You moved with kings in 
the royal princes' army, but it is through the means of 
Puxley I am left in grief and confinement in Cork, 
locked in heavy irons without the hope of relief. The 
great God is good and merciful ; I ask His pardon and 
His support, for I am to be hanged at the gallows to- 
morrow, without doubt. The rope will squeeze my 
neck, and thousands will lament my fate. May the 
Lord have mercy on my master ! It is for his sake I 
am now in their power. Kerryonians, pray for us ! 
sweet and melodious is your voice. My blessing I give 
you ; but you will never see me again among you alive. 
Our heads will be put on a spike for a show, and under 

H 



pS The Munster Circuit. 

the cold snow of night, and under the burning sun of 
summer. Oh ! that I was ever bom. Oh ! that I ever 
returned to Bearehaven. Mine was the best of masters 
that Ireland could produce. May our souls be floating 
to-morrow in the rays of endless glory. 

" The lady, his wife ! Heavy is her grief; and who 
may wonder at that — ^were her eyes made of green- 
stone when her dear husband was shot by that ball ? Had 
he retreated, our grief might be lighter ; but the brave 
man, for the pride of his country, could not retreat. 
He has been in kings^ palaces. In Spain he got a 
pension. Lady Clare gave him robes bound with gold 
lace, as a token of remembrance. He was a captain on 
the coast of Prance, but he should return to Ireland for 
us to lose him ! '' ^ 

There is a touching strain in this lament which shows 
the writer had a grateftd and feeling heart. 

A novel trial for murder took place at Cork during 
the Lent Assizes of 1765. Mary Bourke, commonly 
called '^Sterling Molly/' and John her son, were 
sentenced to death for the murder of John Geary, 
by setting a mastiff at him, who tore several parts of his 
flesh in pieces. This sentence was afterwards com- 
muted to transportation for life. 

A number of barbers were convicted at Quarter 
Sessions at this time for exercising their trade on the 
Lord's Day, and each was fined a crown for each 
ofience. One of them was considered to have greatly 
aggravated his crime by shaving three persons for a 
halfpenny each, which caused him to be flued three 

* Gibson's " History of Cork," vol. ii. p. 524. 



The Munster Circuit. 99 

crowns. Probably the number of barbers induced 
competition, which led to the lowering of this barber^s 
prices. We have heard of a barber who combined the 
trades of shaving and selling malt liquor, and placed 
on a sign the following couplet : — 

" Rove not from pole to pole, but step in here, 
Where nought excels the shaving but the beer." 

The inhabitants of portions of the Munster Circuit had 
peculiar notions of amusement, as the following 
shows : — 

''Lent Assizes, April, 1764. — A number of persons 
were tried for assembling in Hammond's Fields, near 
Blarney, on Sunday evening, armed with swords, in 
open contempt of the magistracy, whence they divided 
themselves into two parties, in order of battle, and 
maintained a running fight for several hours.'' 

The city of Cork was infested with lawless gangs, 
whose violence was such that the peacable citizens were 
afraid to venture forth after nightfall. Robbery and 
burglai'y were of frequent occurrence, and some curious 
instances of the inefficiency of hanging are found in the 
annals of the time, which deserve a place in our 
history. 

At the Autumn Assizes of 1766, a man named 
Patrick Redmond was indicted for robbing the dwelling- 
house of John Griffin. He was found guilty, sentenced 
to death, and hanged on the 10th of September, 1766, 
at Gallows-green, the usual place of execution at Cork. 
He was cut down after hanging exactly nine minutes ; 
and an actor named Glover, who was then performing 
on the Cork stage, by means of friction and fumigation 

H 2 



ICX) The Munster Circuit. 

succeeded in restoring animation^ and^ ere long, 
Patrick Bedmond was able to walk as if notliing had 
Iiappened to him. Possibly the ill-advised attention 
of his fi-iends preyaQed on him to drink more than he 
ought, for ere night&U he got drunk, and went to the 
theatre to return thanks to Glover for saving his life. 

The frequenters at the theatre, on beholding the 
appearance of a man in the evening whom many had 
seen hanged in the morning, were naturally consider- 
ably frightened, and women fainted, and a terrible 
scene of confusion took place. It is not stated that 
he was retaken, and we may infer he was a tailor by 
trade, for the Historian of Cork remarks, '' he was the 
third tailor who had outlived hanging during two 
years. 

3 Gibson's " History of Cork," vol. iL p. 204. 



The Mutister Circuit loi 



CHAPTER VIIL 

Success of the Fitz-Gibbons at the Bar. — ^The first Lord 
Avonmore. — Scott, Earl of Clonmel. — Lord Carleton. — How 
Mr. O'Brien got possession of Olonamuckoge. 

It is time that we turn from the enumeration of the 
oflFencea tried on the Munster Circuit, to glance at the 
characters and achievements of those eminent lawyers 
who have rendered famous the name of the Munster 
Bar. 

While Lord Wyndham was Lord Chancellor of 
Ireland, in 1732, the Benchers of the King^s Inn, 
Dublin, refused to call to the Bar a young Irish law 
student, a native of the County of Limerick, named 
John Fitz-Gibbon, He had duly kept his terms, and 
complied with the forms necessary for his admission to 
the practice of the law, but he had committed the 
offence of publishing " The Reports of Several Cases, 
Argued and Adjudged in the Court of King's Bench at 
Westminster, with some Special Cases in the Courts 
of Chancery, Common Pleas, and Exchequer/' 

These reports were regarded with disfavour by the 
English judges. Lord Raymond threatened to have 
the publisher punished for its publication. Sir James 
Barrows, who was a very excellent lawyer, and accurate 
reporter, in refutation of a statement " That the per- 



102 The Munster Circuit 

formance was a libel on the Bar and the Bench^ and 
made the judges talk nonsense by wholesale,^' says^ 
"I have examined all the King's Bench cases, and 
have compared them with my own notes, and find him 
to have made the judges talk almost verbatim what I 
took down from their own mouths/' Sir James, how- 
ever, thpugh he admits the accuracy of these reports, 
censures their publication as unauthorized. 

Most likely the Irish Benchers were requested by 
their English brethren to refuse the young author 
admission to the Bar — certain it is, was it not for the 
cordial support of Lord Wyndham, then Lord Chan- 
cellor, backed by that of Chief Justice Eejmolds, who 
brought the Benchers to allow his call — John Fitz- 
Gibbon would not have been a member of the Irish 
Bar. He was called, and went the Munster Circuit. 
He quickly got into practice, though he seems rather 
to have distinguished himself more as a Chamber 
counsel, than by his Court performances. Sir Jonah 
Barrington says, ^^Old Fitz-Gibbon loved to make 
money, and, in his day, it was not the fashion for 
lawyers to spend it. They tell a story of him respect- 
ing a client who brought his own brief and fee, that 
he might personally apologize for the smallness of the 
latter. Fitz-Gibbon, on receiving the fee, looked 
rather discontented.'' 

^' I assure you. Counsellor," said the client mourn- 
fully, " I am ashamed of its smallness ; but, in fact, it 
is all I have in the world." 

" Oh ! then," said Fitz-Gibbon, '^ you can do no 
more — ^as it is all you have in the world, why I must 
take it." 



The Munster Circuit. 103 

As evidence of this statement I quote from a letter 
of a Limerick merchant, dated 23rd June, 1738, ad- 
dressed to Mr, Martin Killikelly, Dublin : — 

'' Dear Sib, — ^Last post Mr. Philip Roche wrote to 
his brother, Stephen Roche,^ to retain Mr. Fitz-Gibbon. 
I pray you will call on Mr. Roche, and know if he has 
done soe, and if he has not that he will doe it ime- 
diately, and, if Mr. Fitz-Gibbon should be retained 
before by any one for Chas. Wade, that I pray he will 
return Wade's friend back ye fee, for the affair in 
dispute touches my neer friend, as well as Mr. Roche, 
and of which tell Mr. Fitz-Gibbon. If he should be 
backward to return it, give my service to Mr. 
McDonell, and that I pray him to influence Mr. Fitz- 
Gibbon. I also pray you^l call on Mr. Marcwall with 
my service, and to give him a pistale,^ as retaining 
fee for Margaret Roche, and I desired, in my last, ye 
calling on Mr. Bryan, Mr. Mahon, and giving him the 
Qr. Moydore.' If you have not seen him I pray you 
will, and let ye Qr. Moydore be a half pistale, and, if 
he should be engaged before for 0. Wade, I pray 
he may return back ye fee, and that I doubt not his 
being pleased thereat. '' 

^ l^he Roches of Limerick were opulent merchants, both in 
the last and present centnry. 

' An Italian coin, value 168. 6(2. 

' Moidore, Mioda d'oro, and pistales, were Portuguese coins. 
A pistale was valued at IZ, 7«. OcZ. of our money. A quarter moy- 
dore — ^not seven shillings — would be a small retaining fee. 
Foreign money seems to have been much in circulation on the 
Munster Circuit, owing to the great trade of Cork and 
Limerick with the Continent, especially with Spain and 
Portugal. 



104 ^^^ Munster Circuit 

In several of these letters I find instructions to 
retain Mr. Fitz- Gibbon, Counsellor at Law/ wlio was 
in great request^ especially in Limerick. 

As he was called to the Bar in 1732, it is most 
probable he joined the Munster Circuit shortly after, 
and, being a native of the county of Limerick, was in 
good practice in that rich county,* as Mr. John Fitz- 
Gibbon purchased an estate along the banks of tho 
Shannon, worth six thousand a year, but resided in a 
large house near Donnybrook, celebrated for its fair, 
which is now no longer kept. Here, in 1749, was 
bom his second son, also named John, who was subse- 
quently a famous leader of the Munster Circuit, filled 
the office of Attorney-General, and Lord Chancellor of 
Ireland. He is, however, best known — but not best 
loved — ^as Earl of Clare. 

It is related that, even in his very childhood, the 
future Earl displayed symptoms of that arrogance 
whicb marked his subsequent career. Having in- 
curred his father^s displeasure for some schoolboy 
fault, Fitz-Gibbon, senior, sent his eldest son to com- 
mand young Jobn^s attendance. The message was in 
the voice of authority — " Your father orders you to go 
to him j you must come instantly.' 



yy 



* The name of Fitz-Gibbon keeps its high repute on the 
Munster Circuit, and at the Irish Bar. Gerald Fitz-Gibbon, 
junior, son of Master Fitz-Gibbon, was her Majesty's Solicitor- 
General for Ireland. He was called to the Bar in Hilary 
Term, 1860; admitted Queen's Counsel July 6th, 1872, suc- 
ceeded the Hon. David Plunket as Solicitor- General Hilary 
Term, 1877, aud appointed Lord Justice of Appeal in 1878. 

* Barrington's " Personal Sketches," vol. iii. p. 309. 



(( 



The Munster Circuit. loj 

« 

^^ Orders! must!" repeated the boy of thirteen. 

Such language suits me not, nor will I stir an inch— 
Decebtum est,'^ and, proudly stamping his foot on the 
ground, remained stationary. 

The messenger reported the reply. The old bar- 
rister laughed heartily at this presumptuous burst of 
haughtiness, and, in a formal note, jocosely ^^ requested 
the honour of an interview with Mr. John Fitz-Gibbon, 
junior," when, after a few words of paternal admoni- 
tion, no further notice was taken of the matter, and, in 
parliamentary phrase, the subject dropped.' 

It was on the Munster Circuit that Walter Hussby 
Burgh was bom, and he became one of the greatest 
ornaments of the Irish Bar. He was called to the 
Bar in 1768, and was a contemporary of John Fitz- 
Gibbon, junior, who was called in the first day of 
Trinity Term, 1772. Of the eminent natives of 
Munster, who naturally selected that Circuit, was John 
Scott, subsequently Lord Chief Justice of the King's 
Bench j Hugh Carleton, Lord Carleton, Chief Justice 
of the Common Pleas; and Barry Yelverton, Lord 
Avonmore, Chief Baron of the Exchequer. The last- 
named eminent lawyer was r)om at Kanturk, in the 
county of Cork, in 1736, and was called to the Bar in 
1 764. He possessed very considerable talents ; but as 
there were no Law Reports published in Ireland before 
1796, when Messrs. Ridgway, Tapp, and Schoales 
issued Term Reports, we cannot give any specimen of 
his arguments at the Bar; but his judgments, as re- 
ported, show the clearness, force, and fertility of his 

* " Essays of an Octogenarian " (James Eoche of Cork), vol. 
ii. p. 36. 



lo6 The Munster Circuit. 

mind. He was fond of viewing the cases in a variety 
of points, and his mode of illustration showed great 
Skill. He was also deeply read in law, and had a 
good knowledge of decided cases. He possessed a 
deep, full, and clear voice, and his enunciation was 
distinct. He displayed a logical mind, and his deci- 
sions show much order in their arrangement. He 
most likely continued to go Circuit until he became 
Attorney-General in 1782. While holding this office 
he was spending some time with the Earl of Kenmare, 
at Killamey, who gave a stag-hunt in* his honour. 
The stag, after a long chase, reached the hill near 
which the Attorney- General, the witty Father O'Leary, 
and other guests of Lord Kenmare, were there viewing 
the chase. Close to the feet of Telverton the panting 
stag lay down.' 

" How natural that is," said Father O'Leary to the 
Attorney-General. '^ The stag comes to you in hopes 
you will cause a nolli prosequi to be issued in his 
favour.^' 

This hon mot was much applauded, and deserved to 
save the poor deer. 

Barry Yelverfcon possessed a country-house on the 
banks of the River Bride, near Glenville, in the county 
of Cork. Here he was accustomed to repair after the 
labours of the Circuit, and here he enjoyed, as Curran 
reminded him, those Attic nights, and those refections 
of the Gods, with his admired and respected and be- 
loved companions. Here he entertained Curran, and 
often members of the Circuit, in these happy meetings, 
which Curran so pathetically described, ^' When the 
innocent enjoyment of social mirth expanded into the 



wmr^^Bmm^^^^mfmmmmmimmsBBesBB^*^s'mKmmm 



The Munster Circuit, 107 

nobler warmth of social virtue, and the horizon of the 
board became enlarged into the horizon of man ; when 
the swelling heart conceived and communicated the 
pure and generous purpose j when the young guests^ 
slenderer and feebler taper imbibed its borrowed light 
from the mature and redundant fountain of their hosts, 
for 

" * We spent them not in toys, or lust, or wine — 
But search of deep philosophy. 
Wit, eloquence, and poesy ; 
Arts, which I loved, for they, my friend, were thine.' " 

Not long since I was visiting the banks of the 
Bride, and found where Barry Telverton lived. A 
few stones mark the spot. I thought with Ossian, — 
^^Why dost thou build the hall, son of the winged 
days. Thou lookest from thy towers to-day — in a few 
years the blast of the desert comes ; it howls through 
thy empty courts, and whistles round thy half-worn 
shield.^' 

John Scott, Chief Justice and Earl of Clonmel, was 
another Munster man. Bom at or near Clonmel, in 
the county of Tipperary, in 1738, he was called to the 
Bar in 1764, and his indomitable impudence, and con- 
siderable abilities soon brought him into lucrative 
business. He possessed great tact. Though he could 
only boast a slight knowledge of text-books and 
statutes, he showed great skill in mastering the facts 
of a case, grasping the salient points, discovering how 
the evidence sustained his client^s case; and, where 
evidence was conflicting, sifting the wheat from the 
chaflF. He then threw overboard all that was worth- 



io8 The Munster Circtdt. 

less, and, with firmness and perseverance, presented 
the material points to the Court and jury. It was 
well known on Circuit few could equal John Scott in 
carrying a case by a bold stroke, or upsetting an ad- 
versary by some unexpected piece of evidence. He, 
like a skilful general, was always on the alert to cover 
his weak flanks — was wonderfully quick to meet un- 
foreseen difficulties, such as constantly turn up during 
the trial of records on Circuit. If John Scott wanted 
familiarity with the deep-seated principles of the 
Common Law, few were more at home in the practice, 
and fewer equalled him in the adroitness with which 
he conducted his cases to a triumphant termination. 
He possessed a rich fund of humour, a great deal of 
oratorical power, boldness joined to quickness in reply, 
and much fertility of illustration. From the un- 
doubted eflrontery which he looked, as well as used, 
he acquired on Circuit the sobriquet of " Copper- 
faced Jack.'' 

Hugh Carleton was co-temporary, and intimate 
friend of Scott's. He, too, hailed from Munster, 
having been bom in the city of Cork on the 11th 
September, 1737. His father, Francis Carleton, was 
an eminent merchant, of rather a pompous disposition, 
which, probably, obtained him the title of ^^King 
of Cork." Hugh Carleton distinguished himself by 
gaining several prizes while going through Trinity 
College, Dublin. At College, Hugh became acquainted 
with John Scott, whose finances were then so low as 
to render the pecuniary aid of the son of the wealthy 
merchant of Cork very acceptable. Young Carleton 
was a most diligent student, and when he studied for 



wmmsmmm^mmmummmmmmmmmmmmmmmms^mmmm 



The Munster Circuit. 109 

tlie Bar spared no pains to master his future profession. 
Sir Jonah Barrington bears strong testimony to his 
legal lore: — "At the Bar he was eflScientj on the 
Bench he was exemplary. With a plain and exclu- 
sively forensic talent, cultivated with an assiduity 
nothing could surpass, he attained very considerable 
professional eminence: his whole capacity seemed to 
have been formed into nice points of law, regularly 
numbered, and always ready for use. His limited 
genius seldom wandered beyond the natural boundary ; 
but whenever it chanced to stray to general subjects, 
it appeared always to return to its symmetrical techni- 
calities with great gratification. Habit and applica- 
tion made him a singular proficient in that methodical 
hair-splitting of legal distinctions, and in reconciling 
the incongruity of conflicting precedents which gene- 
rally beget the reputation of an able lawyer. The 
Government were glad to get him out of Parliament, 
and, without intending it, did an essential service to 
the due administration of justice.'^ ' 

From this estimate of Mr. Carleton^s legal abilities 
we can easily credit the very flattering account of his 
career given in the ''Hibernian Journal'^ for June, 
1795. '' He was called to the Bar in Trinity Term, 
1764, a profession, of all others, best suited to reward 
extraordinary abilities. During his practice his con- 
duct was noble and disinterested. The lively vigour 
of his mind, and the felicity of his temper, made him 
rise superior to every diflBculty. He married shortly 
after being called to the Bar. His first wife, whom 

' Barrington's " Eise and Fall of the Irish Nation," p. 322. 



w 

1 10 TAe Munster Circuit. 

he espoused in 1766, was daughter of Major Mercer. 
He appears to have got much more rapidly into 
practice than is usual; for, in' 1769, five years after 
being called, he was appointed King's Counsel. Then, 
as now, it seems to have been the desire of ambitious 
members of the Irish Bar to enter Parliament, for in 
1772 Mr. Carleton, K.C., was elected member for the 
borough of Tuam. He did not long sit as its repre- 
sentative, for we find him, in 1774, Member for Philips- 
town. I cannot say what party had the benefit of the 
hon. and learned member's support, for the celebrated 
Dr. Lucas was then dead, and the popular cause was 
only gaining scanty support; but it is probable Mr, 
Carleton was in the ranks of the Castle party, for in 
1777 he became Second Sergeant, and in 1779, 
Solicitor-General. ''In Parliament,'' we are told,* 
''he displayed that impartial, honest conduct, which 
every member of the senate ought to pursue. There 
he showed that his powers of persuasion, and his 
sources of knowledge, were great ; his memory com- 
prehensive and faithful; his language precise and 
copious, just, and elegant. To enjoy the favour of his 
sovereign, and the love of his countrymen, falls not 
to the lot of many ; but this was the lot of Mr, 
Carleton." 

Scott and Carleton must have been often engaged, 
either together or on opposite sides, on the Munster 
Circuit. They served together as Attorney and 
Solicitor- General in 1779, and as they acquired the 
rank and position of Chief Justices, ceased to belong 

* " Hibernian Magazine," July, 1795. 



The Munster Circuit. ill 

to the Munster Bar, In 1789 Mr. Carleton obtained 
the Chief Justiceship of the Common Pleas on the 
death of Chief Justice Paterson. He was then ennobled 
by the title of Baron Carleton, of Anner, in the county 
Tipperary. 

Lord Carleton seems to have been as amiable in 
private as "he was exemplary in public life. The 
notice from which we have already quoted, truly says, 
*' What are honours, or riches, or titles, if the man is 
not seen to advantage in private life. There we can 
say, with truth, and it gives us the most exquisite 
satisfaction — that his beneficent disposition, the dig- 
nity and elegance of his mind, blended with much 
philanthropy and politeness, form a virtuous basis, to 
which, in his conduct, he invariably adheres.^' 

His lordship, being a widower, married a second 
time, in 1795, Miss Mathew. 

He was greatly affected by having to try, in the 
Court of Common Pleas, Dublin, July 4th, 1798, the 
two brothers Henry and John Sheares, for high 
treason. 

Both were deeply implicated in the United Irish 
Conspiracy, and a letter, written by John, to the Lord 
Chancellor, accusing him aa '^ The Author of Coercion,^' 
set up in type when seized, caused the suppression of 
the '^ Press '' newspaper.' Both were natives of Cork, 
bom in Patrick-street, where their father for years 
carried on business, and was a member of the Irish 
Parliament, They selected the Bar for their profes- 

* This letter is given in that valnable work which throws so 
mnch light npon this sad period of Ireland's stoiy, Dr. 
Madden*s '* United Irishmen," voL iv., p. 221. 



112 The Munster Circuit 

sion, John being called in 1788, and Henry in the 
following year. They went the Munster Circuit, and 
it appears were, in their youth, on most intimate 
terms with the future Chief Justice, Lord Carleton, 
and also with Lord Clare. It is said the latter, when 
a young man, was greatly attached to Miss Swete, 
but had a successful rival in Henry Shearer, with whom 
the lady eloped. In the " Essays of an Octogenarian,^' 
Mr. James Boche mentions an interview talking place at 
his father's house in Limerick, between the Chancellor 
and the two brothers, who met him in private; but 
Mr. Boche observed their heated countenances on 
leaving, which he attributed to propositions being 
made which they spurned. 

They were betrayed by a pretended friend, John 
Warneford Armstrong, found guilty, and executed. 
Curran defended, and used such strong language — 
the Chief Justice reminded him ^^it did not become 
one wearing the gown of one of his Majesty's Counsel." 
To which Curran replied, *' Well, my Lord, they may 
take the silk, but they leave the stick behind." 

When the brothers were convicted, John Shearer 
made a very feeling appeal to the Chief Justice. He 
urged that, "while the terrible sentence might be 
executed upon him with all the swiftness deemed re» 
quisite, his brother might be respited at the discretion 
of the Court. He said his brother's affairs required 
some little time for arrangement, and if both were taken 
off^ an aged and revered mother, a dear sister, and the 
most affectionate wife that ever lived, with six children, 
would be left without protection or provision of any 
kind." 



The Mtmster Circuit 113 

To this Lord Carleton replied, in toiies that be- 
trayed deep emotion, ^' In the awful duty imposed on 
me, no man can be more sensibly affected than I am, 
because I know the very valuable and respectable 
father and mother from whom you are descended. I 
knew and revered their virtues. One of them — 
happily for himself — is now no more — the other, for 
whom I have the highest personal respect, probably 
by the events of this day, may be hastened into futurity. 
It does not rest with us after the conviction which has 
taken place, to hold out mercy — that is for another 
place, and I am afraid, in the present situation of 
public affairs, it will be difficult to grant even that in- 
dulgence which you, John Shearer, so pathetically 
request for your brother. With respect to the object 
of soliciting time for your brother to arrange his 
affairs, unfortunately it could be of no use, because by 
the attainder he will forfeit all his property — real and 
personal — nothing to be settled will remain.^' 

It is believed much unpopularity fell to Lord Carle- 
ton's lot after passing sentence upon these unhappy 
brothers ; but he, of course, knew he should discharge 
his judicial duty. Dr. Madden is of opinion that, 
when the rebels mobbed Lord Kilmorden's coach in 
1803, and he, hoping his name would ensure his safety, 
announced who he was, and immediately was killed, 
the ruffians mistook him for Lord Carleton. 

In 1802 his lordship resigned the Chief Justiceship 
on a good pension, and went to reside in England. 
In 1810 he lost his second wife, but the neighbourhood 
of London seemed to have agreed with him. He re- 
ceived his pension for the long space of twenty-four 

I 



1 14 The Munster Circuit. 

years. He died in 1826, at the advanced age of 
eighty-seven. 

John FitzGibbon, junior, was called on the 19th 
June, the first day of Trinity Term, 1772. He was 
fortunate in rapidly getting practice, as the following 
entries in his fee-book show : — 

Fees. 

£ 9, d, 

1772 343 7 

1773 414 3 5 

1774 686 17 8 

1776 619 17 1 

1776 1066 19 1 

During this year 1789, Lord LifEord died in his 
80th year, and the Lord Chancellorship of Ireland be- 
came vacant. Great anxiety was felt as to his suc- 
cessor, and, as usual. Commissioners of the Great Seal 
were appointed. It would appear the custody of it 
was committed to Lord Chief Justice Carleton, for his 
respected relative. Rev. William Carleton, Rector and 
Vicar of Callan, county Kilkenny, informs me, ''I 
have the Lord Chancellor's purse Lord Carleton used 
during the time he was acting as Lord Chancellor, 
and which my father got after his death.'' 

It was generally expected at the time that at last 
an Irishman would be appointed to the Seal, and the 
practice, which had so long prevailed, of importing 
members of the English Bar as Irish Chancellors 
would cease. The Attorney-General, Pitz-Gibbon, had 
unquestionable ability, and strong political claims, but 
Lord Thurlow, then Chancellor of England, it is said, 
was resolved that no Irishman should hold the Great 



The Munster Circuit 1 1 5 

Seal of Ireland. But the Irish Executive were not to 
be beaten^ and^ after great pressure^ the stubborn 
Thurlow gave way, and PitzGibbon got the Seal/ 

Having reached the thousand, I cease my extracts. 
Suffice it to state that, from 19th June, 1772, to 
1789, he received fees to the comfortable total of 
45,912Z. 8«. M. Of these, 36,939/. 3a. lid. were re- 
ceived during the l€ist five years and a half. 

During the year 1788, when he was Attorney- 
General, he was counsel in no less than 1367 cases. 
He naturally selected the Munster Circuit, on which 
his father's reputation was a good introduction. He 
soon got into lucrative practice, and was retained in 
every case of importance. 

In Tipperary he was the advising counsel of an 
attorney named Denis O'Brien, who lent money to 
embarrassed landholders, and when the mortgage in- 
terest was tiot punctually paid, he quickly filed a bill 
to foreclose. In this way O'Brien obtained a decree 
for possession of a house and land denominated Clona- 
muckoge. But the Chancellor's decree was one thing, 
and the possession of Clonamuckoge was another ; and 
when the owner was apprised that Mr. Denis O'Brien, 
armed with the decree of the High Court of Chancery, 
was about proceeding to take possession, he valiantly 
resolved to defend it. 

The proceedings present so curious a specimen of 
the law and order on the Munster Circuit towards the 
close of the last century, that I give the particulars as 
they were sent to me: — "No sooner did the owner 

* Vide O'Flanagan's " Irish Chancellors," vol. ii. p. 200. 

I 2 



1 16 The Munster Circuit 

hear tliat O^Brien was about to dispossess him, than he 
congregated a number of persons in the house, and 
fortified it for defence against the sheriff, or O'Brien, 
or whosoever was about to assail it. Among the other 
retainers was a person named Connell, a most expert 
shot with the rifle, and whose practised aim was sure 
to hit whatever came within its range. The attack 
was made, and the conflict resembled the storming of 
a fortress. There was partial success to the besiegers. 
The attacking force, commanded by O'Brien, made a 
lodgment in an outhouse ; but, from the left of this 
building a detachment of the garrison kept up a flank- 
ing fire, which prevented the besiegers approaching 
the principal entrance. It was, therefore, the object 
of the enemy beneath to dislodge the garrison above ; 
but these wary men were prepared for this. They had 
taken the precaution of supplying themselves with 
large iron pots, bullet-proof, in each of which a man 
took his stand. The assailants, unaware of this, fired 
repeated volleys through the boarded ceiling, in hopes 
of shooting the men above, and apparently without 
effect ; while the fire was returned with deadly effect 
on the unprotected men beneath. Thus, after suffer- 
ing severe loss of men, Denis O'Brien had to raise the 
siege. 

" Strengthened by a party of military, in aid of the 
civil power, O'Brien, in 1784, made another venture. 
The galling fire kept up by the garrison, and especially 
Connell's dreaded rifle, rendered the attack also abor- 
tive. A letter addressed to an ancestor of my corre- 
spondent is very indicative of the then state of society 
in Ireland. The writer drove a handsome coach-and- 



^mmmmmmmmtmammmmmtma^mmmmmmmmm^mmmmmmHmmmmmgmmm 



The Munster Circuit, 1 17 

four, was a deputy-lieutenant and magistrate for the 
county of Tipperary, his daughter married a British 
Privy Councillor, Member of the House of Commons, 
and subsequently British Minister at a foreign 
Court : '— 

" ' Sunday y March 23rc?, 1784. 

" ' Deae , — I shall be much obliged to you to 

send me as many men as you possibly can to-morrow, 
to defend the possession of Clonamuckoge. I shall 
meet them as early as I can on the lands of Browns- 
town, which is joining Clonamuckoge. I write also to 

. I hope you will excuse this trouble. I assure 

you I expect it will be in my power to return the 
compliment. 

" ' I am, with love to my aunt and Mary, 

^' ' Tour affectionate kinsman.' '' 

By these means the possession of Clonamuckoge was 
retained to this model justice of the peace for a long 
time^ but O'Brien was resolved not to be beat. He 
accordingly procured a large military force of infantry 
and artillery from Clonmel, and, with these, and the 
army of bailiffs, he made his approach as cautiously as 
if in an enemy's country. The cannon commenced to 
to play at so remote a distance that at first the balls 
fell short ; but as the fire, even on a nearer approach, 
was not returned, the guns were brought so close the 
balls pierced point blank, and soon the front wall 
tottered. The repeated shocks of the cannon quickly 
did the work of demolition, and reduced the noble 
house to a heap of ruins. The wary garrison, informed 

2 Eichard Lalor Shiel. 



1 1 8 The Munster Circuit 

by their scouts of the nature of the force brought 
against them^ had time to evacuate the house. Despite 
the obstinacy of O'Brien, the loss of life and danger 
increased, when he got possession. It turned out he 
was not entitled to retain it. A period of time after 
the mortgage money was due, allowed for redemption, 
had not elapsed, and he was put out by ejectment. 
But the resistance offered to the sheriff called the 
attention of the Legislature to the state of the law, 
and procured the passing of the Act making forcible 
resistance to legal process a transportable felony. 



The Munster CircuiU 119 



CHAPTER IX. 

Progress of John Philpot Curran at the Bar. — ^His fee-book.— 
First great Case on the Munster Circuit. — Duel with Captain 
St. Leger. — Judicial exposition of Duelling — Counsel's rea- 
diness to fight. — Lord Chancellor Clare's enemity to Curran. — 
Suicide of Baron Power. 

Michaelmas term 1775 witnessed the call to the Bar of 
the most eloquent advocate John Philpot Curran. He was 
for years the leader of the Munster Circuit and at the 
time of his admission to practise at the Bar, was twenty- 
five years old, married, and though rich in talent, poor 
in worldly wealth. Of him Davis thus writes : — 

'' The hills of Duhallow had laid lines of beauty and 
shades of wildness on his eye and soul. He had been 
sharpened by the position of his family— ^ennobled by 
the force of his mother's mind— instructed in Irish tra- 
ditions and music. Knowing these, and such lore as 
Boyce could teach him, he left Newmarket. This wild, 
fanciful, earnest boy then picked up classic experience 
and ambition at Midleton, and was ennobled by gene- 
rous companions, refined by study and society, and 
made fiery by lore and pleasure in college. 

" In London, amid his melancholy and wildness, he 
had a strong resolve to be great and good. His me- 
lancholy grew glorious then, as sun-lit clouds; and 
honesty sustained his ambition against oppression or 



120 



The Munster Circuit. 



dissipation. He loved to labour because he longed to 
enjoy/' 

After a careful training in London debating societies, 
lie acquired a readiness and fluency which soon brought 
him to the front, and when called to the Bar he was 
not allowed to linger in obscurity. ' Through the kind- 
ness of my accomplished friend, W. J. Fitz-Patrick, 
Esq., J.P., I have obtained from Mrs. Curran, the first 
fee-book of John Philpot Curran, which disproves the 
generally accepted idea he remained for some years a 
briefless barrister. The first page of his fee-book is 
thus given : — 



" CaUed to the Bar November 27th, 1775. 

Nov. 29th, Webb Carey v. Carey case 
1776, Hilary Term .... 
Easter, absent (Spring Circnit) 
May 22, at Tallow Hobson 
June 14, Clonmel — ^Toler 
Remainder of Trin. Term — Black eye 
Summer Circuit .... 
Mich. Term 



Prim. Anno 



" 1777 Spring Assizes 



£ B, 


d. 


2 5 


6 


6 16 


6 


7 19 


3 


11 7 





34 2 


6 


4 11 





11 4 


9 


6 16 


6 



85 2 6 
31 19 10 



He made in his second year, 132Z. 12s. 8(i.; in his 
third year, 568Z. 13s. 9d. ; in his fourth year, 1038Z. 10s. ; 
not including the last Sligo Committee. 

This branch of professional emolument appears from 
Curran's fee-book to have been a great source of income. 
From 1778 he appears to have been much engaged on 



The Munster Circuit. 121 

Parliamentary Committees, and as each attendance is 
marked 1 1 1, 7s. 6d. was soon a profitable employment. 
The story related in Mr. Phillips' '^ Reminiscences of 
Curran and his Contemporaries/' of his " living in a 
place called Hog-hill, in dirty lodgings, with a starving 
wife and dunning landlady, and returning from atten- 
dance at Court to find before him his first brief with 
twenty golden guineas, and the name of old Bob Lyons 
on the back of it,'' turns out, from the record before 
me, not quite accurate. 

In the first place, Curran never lived in Hog-hill, 
and according to Davis there never was such a place in 
Dublin. When called to the Bar he lodged in Redmond- 
hill, a street between CuflTe-street, and Digges-street, 
a region then much frequented by barristers. Here he 
probably remained until 1781, when, according to his 
fee-book, he was in Ely-place. 

Secondly, the brief with the fee entered in Curran's 
book as 22 Z. 15s. is among those received in Hilary 
Term, 1778, and was by no means the first. It was in 
the Parliamentary Petition of Ormsby v, Wynne, in 
which he had been retained by Mr. Lyons, agent for 
Mr. Wynne, who then gave him a fee of IIZ. 7s. 6d. 
This was a profitable case. I find he received for at- 
tending the Committee 21 IZ. 10s. The Committee, I 
apprehend, unseated Mr. Wynne, for I find also in 1778 
the entry—*' Mr. Wynne, Sligo Election, lOOZ." Mr. 
Wynne was rather unfortunate in being returned, for 
he was again brought before a Parliamentary Committee. 
Under the heading, *' Hilary Term, 1780," comes the 
familiar entry, — 

''Ormsby v. Wynne — Lyons — Com. Petition. Re- 



122 The Munster Circuit. 

tainer 22Z. 15«./' followed by entries of attendances, 
the fees amounting to 34Z. la. 6cZ. 

Another statement of Mr. Phillips is refuted by the 
fee-book. Mr. Phillips describes Curran as having 
attended the Cork Assizes, and walked the hall, term 
after term, without either profit or professional repu- 
tation. Now I find that rapid as was the increase of 
his Court business in Dublin, that of his Circuit was 
fully equal to it. 

I quote his own returns : — 

£ 6* d. 

" 1776. Spring Circuit . . . . . 7 19 3 

Summer Do 11 4 9 

"1777. Spring Do 3119 10 

Summer Do 36 

"1778. Spring Do. 

Clonmel. . . . 15 18 6 
Cork . . . . 64 12 

70 10 6 

Summer Do 62 11 3 

"1779. Spring Do 86 

Summer Do 34 2 6 

"1780. Spring Do 34 

Summer Do 180 

"1781. Spring Do 120 0" 

This is the last entry of his gains on Circuit entered 
in this book; and as his fame rapidly increased after 
his speech in Eev. Mr. Neale v. Lord Doneraile in 1780, 
I am sure his receipts henceforward must have been 
very great. If I have gone too minutely into this early 
record of the professional life of Curran, his name and 
fame must be my apology. 



■J.P ^^ ■■■ ■ ^ ii. ,.i.^^j.. ..., J.1 .,.ij[iiii.wiiijj.i. mt&mmmmiKmimtmm^ 



The Munster Circuit 123 

During the Cork Summer Assizes of 1780, an action 
for assault and battery was tried, which, from the po- 
sition of the plaintiff and defendant, excited great in- 
terest throughout the country. The plaintiff was a 
Roman Catholic priest. Rev. Mr. Neale ; the defendant. 
Lord Doneraile. 

This nobleman, son of Richard Aldworth, Esq., of 
Newmarket, county Cork, had succeeded to the estates 
of his uncle Hayes, fourth Viscount Doneraile, that 
nobleman having died without issue in 1767. He was 
then St. Leger Aldworth ; but, on becoming the owner 
of the estates of his maternal ancestors, assumed 
the family name of St. Leger, and on the 2nd July, 
1766, was created Baron Doneraile. 

It was the misfortune of this peer to have drawn a 
peasant girl from the paths of virtue, and, shortly 
after,* the brother of this girl committed some crime 
calling for ecclesiastical censure, which the Rev. Mr. 
Neale, by the directions of his bishop, carried into 
effect. The young object of Lord Doneraile's illicit 
' love applied to his Lordship for his interference in 
her brother's favour, and was promised prompt 
redress. Accompanied by a kinsman. Captain St. 
Leger, who had retired from the service. Lord Done- 
raile sought the small cottage in which Father Neale, 
the priest, resided. He was an aged man in poor 
circumstances. The Penal Laws were in full force, 
and he lived in seclusion. He was engaged in his 
office of prayer when he heard a loud voice calling him 
forth. He looked up and saw Lord Doneraile, 
mounted on horseback, calling him. He rose from his 
knees, and, book in hand, bareheaded, and feeble with 



124 The Munster Circuit. 

age, the priest obeyed his lordship^s imperative sum- 
moBS. 

'^ You have dared/' cried his lordship, '^ to huri the 
censures of your Papist Church against one of my men. 
I, Lord Doneraile, command you to remove it instantly/* 

The priest declared he would willingly do so if the 
matter rested with him, but it did not. He was bound 
to obey his bishop ; the censure could not be removed 
save by the bishop's orders. 

Losing command of his temper, the angry peer struck 
the defenceless old priest repeatedly with his horsewhip, 
until the blood flowed, and the priest retreated, stunned 
and bleeding, into his humble dwelling. 

A courageous attorney ventured upon the bold step 
of bringing an action for assault on behalf of Father 
Neale against St. Leger, Baron Doneraile, and the cause 
was in the list of records to be tried at the Summer 
Assizes for the County of Cork, in 1780. 

The Bar, as usual, mustered strong at Cork for the 
Assizes, but such was the St. Leger influence that no 
counsel was desirous of appearing for the plaintiflf in 
this action. 

Strange enough that Curran, who was a native of 
Newmarket, and whose father had been seneschal of 
the Manor Court of the Aid worths' family, should have 
volunteered to be the plaintiff's counsel. He felt that 
the case was one demanding redress, and determined 
the priest should not be ino'ps consilii, but should have 
the benefit of bis advocacy. He portrayed in scathing 
terms the outrageous conduct of the defendant ; depicted 
the character of the humble priest; and lashed with 
fierce invective the man who stood tamely by and never 



Tlie Munster Circuit, 125 

interfered to save Father Neale from the lash of his 
angry relative. He termed Captain St. Leger a rene- 
gade soldier^ a drammed-out Dragoon^ and turned this 
captain into ridicule when he came to be a witness for 
the defendant. 

" You are a soldier, sir ? ^^ asked Curran. 

" No ; I am an officer/^ replied St. Leger. 

" I see/' said Curran. '' You are then an officer, but 
no soldier J' 

The witnesses for the defence were obliged, under 
Curran's powerful questions, to establish in the full the 
plaintifE's case ; and under his vehement advocacy the 
jury decided accordii^g to the evidence between man 
and man, and found a verdict for Father Neale with 
thirty, guineas damages. 

This verdict Davis calls " a conquest over the powers 
of Darkness ; the first spoils of emancipation.^' 

In consequence of the way Curran cast ridicule upon 
Captain St. Leger, that officer demanded a hostile 
meeting. Curran went out, and when on the ground 
St. Leger asked *' Who should fire first ? '' 

'' I am here,'' said Curran, " by your invitation, so 
you must open the ball." 

After an exchange of shots, without eflFect, the afiair 
terminated. Captain St. Leger died shortly after, and 
Curran said it was of fright ; he died from the report of 
his own pistol. 

Duelling was very prevalent throughout L*eland during 
the last and early part of the present century. We 
may well cease to feel surprise at the prevalence when 
upon a motion for a criminal information in the Court 
of King's Bench, Dublin, the Chief Justice— Lord 



126 The Munster Circuit, 

Glonmel^ gave a judicial exposition when he expressed 
himself as follows : — 

'' There are cases where it may be, and when it is, 
prudent for a man to fight a duel — cases in which the 
law does not afford him redress — cases of persever- 
ing malignity— cases of injured honour— cases of a 
wounded spirit j and a wounded spirit who can bear? In 
cases of this complexion the Court will never interfere 
with its discretionary authority against him. But in 
all these cases where a man seeks to bring himself into 
notice by provoking a combat — when an aspiring up- 
start seeks to put himself on a level with, or to humble 
his superior, cases where there has been no provocation 
—no sufficient ground to force a man of prudence to 
have recourse to the ultima, ratioj or cases (as frequently 
happena in this country) where a man seeks to decide 
a contested right or a claim of property, by this sort of 
wager of battle, in all these cases the Court will lend 
its discretionary arm, and bear, more or less heavily, 
upon the party according to the nature of his trans- 
gression/^ 

In these days duelling was rather the rule than the ex- 
ception for gentlemen settling their differences. TheBar^ 
were as fond of the Eeports of pistols— as Reports of law 
—and the portion of the Park called '^ the fifteen acres,'' 
''be the same more or less,'' as a combative attorney clerk 
wrote when fixing the ground with an opponent, was 
usually the spot where men often were left "quivering 
on the daisies." John Fitz-Gibbon when Attorney- 
General, fought a duel with John Philpot Curran, and 
missed ; both parties were to fire when they liked, and 
Curran, observing his opponent to take aim, when the 



The Munster Circuit. 127 

bullet left him unscathed, said, '' I wonder you missed 
me, for your aim was deliberate enough/' 

At the Cork Spring Assizes of 1794 several prisoners 
were indicted for sedition, and Mr. Day, K.C., was di- 
rected by the Attorney-General to prosecute specially 
for the Crown. In his opening statement, he felt it 
necessary to advert, in strong language, to a member 
of the Circuit, then in Court, who he asserted was the 
folnenter of these very crimes which brought the pri- 
soners to the Bar* of justice. The barrister thus alluded 
to, declared, loud enough to be heard by those who sat 
near him, that '^ if these expressions were not retracted 
he would offer a personal insult to the Crown Counsel, 
when the Court adjourned.'^ 

Mr. Thomas Grady relates what occurred, '^ Having 
the honour of an intimacy with that learned person, Mr. 
Day, I went round, and informed him of this declaration; 
and he did not hesitate a moment, but, iipon Lord Clon- 
mell's principle, said what it was prudent for him to do 
upon the occasion. He desired me to go back, and 
inform that barrister, that he would not have made 
use of these expressions, but under an imperious sense of 
duty; having so made use of them, he would not retract 
them, but that he would give him any personal satisfac- 
tion he demanded as soon as the Court should rise.'* 

^^ I immediately communicated his sentiments in his 
own words to the barrister in question, and the learned 
counsel never since heard any more of the matter.'^ 

While Fitz-Gibbon was Chancellor he evinced such 
hostility towards Curranas to deprive him of nearly all 
business in the Court when Lord Clare presided. On 
such rare occasions as Curran could retaliate, he lost no 






128 The Munster Circuit, 

opportunity of doing so. One day while Curran was 
addressing the Chancellor, his lordship turned to pat 
the head of a favourite dog that was beside him on the 
bench. Curran paused, and the Chancellor said, '' Why 
do you not proceed, Mr. Curran ? '^ the learned counsel 
rejoined, '' Because I thought your Lordship was in 
consultation.'^ Curran estimated his loss by the Chan- 
cellor's hostility at thirty thousand pounds. 

Curran was not the only person who suffered from 
the arrogant Chancellor. He caused the suicide of 
a judge. 

As a general rule, judges do not die by their own 
hand-. They do not condemn themselves to death, like 
the Pope who it is said ordered himself to be burnt, 
*' and,'' adds the Chronicler, '^ he was burned." They 
usually die of old age, and law officers consider them 
rather tough than otherwise. The legal annals of Ire- 
land,^ as far as I have been able to discover, give only 
one instance of suicide by a judge. This was a very 
sad case and was brought about in a lamentable way. 

In 1793, about five years after Fitz-Gibbon had been 
elevated to the woolsack and ruled the Irish Court 
of Chancery with the arrogance peculiar to himself, 
one of the Barons of the Court of Exchequer was Baron 
Power. He was a man of great learning, but very 
eccentric. In stature he was short, and stout, but set 
up for an elegance to which he had no natural claim. 
In his own clumsy way he was as despotic as the lordly 
Chancellor, and combined a rude vulgarity of manner, 

* In England a sad occurrence took place a few years since, 
the suicide of Mr. Justice Willes; bat he was an Irishman, 
a native of Cork. 



The Munster Circuit. 129 

with an affectation of gentility. He was penurious to 
stinginess^ yet^ with strange contradiction^ possessed a 
morbid lore of display. He was very rich, and, together 
with his judgeship, unfortunately held the office of 
Usher to the Oourfc of Chancery. By the usual custom, 
this office was very lucrative, large sums of money, con- 
cerning which Bills were filed, instead of being placed 
with the Accountant-Greneral to the credit of the cause, 
were placed with the Usher to abide the result of the 
decree. Interest derived from these lodgments formed 
the remuneration of the Usher. A protracted suit, to 
which the Duke of Chandos and his tenants were parties, 
had been pending for some years, and the rents, under 
an order of Lord Lifford, when Lord Chancellor, were 
directed to be invested in Government funds, the prin- 
cipal and interest accruing therefrom to form a fund for 
whichever party obtained the final decree. The suit at 
length terminated in favour of the tenants, who were 
declared entitled to the fund in Court. When they 
applied to the Usher, however, he was only paying the 
principal, contending '^ that was all they had a right to 
receive.'* As the interest amounted to the large sum 
of 3000Z., it could hardly be expected the tenants would 
tamely consent to be deprived of this sum, and accord- 
ingly presented a petition to the Lord Chancellor against 
the Usher. The Lord Chancellor, it is stated,' had a 
great antipathy to Baron Power, and lost no opportunity 
for displaying his dislike. The present was quite ample 
occasion to indulge his rancour, for, on finding that the 
order of his predecessor was express, and that the in- 

« Gilbert's " History of Dublin," vol. iii. p. 290. 

K 



1 30 The Munster Ciradt, 

terest shonld follow the principal^ and the withholding 
it was quite unjust, he made a peremptory order, " that 
the Usher should attend in Court, and account for his 
conduct/' Baron Power, in a communication to th% 
Lord Chancellor, remonstrated against this order. He 
called the Chancellor's attention to his station as one of 
the judges, having a seat on the same bench with the 
Chancellor in the Exchequer Chamber, and besought 
him to spare him the indignity of a public reprimand. 
To this the Lord Chancellor replied, '^ that he was not 
dealing with Baron Power, but with the Usher of his 
Court,'' that he should insist upon the personal attend- 
ance of the Usher to explain his conduct, and required 
his attendance the next morning. He added, in very 
peremptory terms, ^^that no person should hold any office 
in the Court of Chancery, as long as he presided, who 
failed to give personal and immediate attendance when 
directed." 

This mandate struck deep into the heart of the delin- 
quent official. There was no room for evasion, or for 
much delay. True, the next day was Sunday, when the 
dreaded explanation could not be given, for the Chan- 
cellor did not sit, and, although the sum of three thou- 
sand pounds was large, it was nothing in point of fact, 
as far as payment went, for the Baron had at this time 
invested for his own use no less than sixty thousand 
pounds in the funds. But there was the disgrace of 
seeking to appropriate to himself the property of others, 
though he might have rested his defence upon the esta^ 
-blished practice of the office. This preyed so deeply 
upon the mind of the wretched Baron, that it affected 
his reason, and he resolved on self-destruction. The 



The Munster Circuit 131 

sabbath day came with its solemn quiet ; the bells tolled 
forth their invitation to prayer; churches and chapels 
held their crowded congregations ; but no holy thought 
soothed the perturbed spirit of the Usher of the Court 
of Chancery; no regard to the future passed over the 
mind of Baron Power. If it did, it was rapidly put 
aside, or buried beneath the sullen and stem resolve of 
the suicide. At one o^clock all was ready ; he had passed 
the morning in arranging his papers, and made his will. 
He then ordered his horse, and attended by his servant 
rode forth to die. 

When he reached the extremity of the South Wall, 
he deliberately dismounted, and gave his horse to his 
groom, with directions to walk the animal to Bingsend, 
and there await his return. He stood still until he was 
alone, and then plunged into the packet dock, from 
whence he never emerged alive. His lifeless body was 
found next day. 

Baron Power resided from the year 1771 to the date 
of his melancholy end in Kildare-street. He had no im- 
mediate family, but two nephews, highly respected 
gentlemen, inherited his great wealth. This sad event 
placed a very lucrative appointment in the gift of the 
Lord Chancellor. 



K 2 



132 The Munster Circuit 



CHAPTER X. 

State of Kerry and Cork in 1787. — Breaking ont of prison. 
—The RebelHon of 1798.— Diary of Wolfe Tone.— Sir 
Vesyan Pick, Mayor of Cork, 1796. — ^Henry and John 
Sheares. — Judge Day.—- Tragical Death of Colonel Fitz- 
G«rald. — Fate of the Honourable Miss Eling. 

The kingdom of Kerry^ as Carran called it, in a speech 
delivered in the Irish House of Commons, on the 23rd 
January, 1787, was then in a very disturbed state. He 
speaks of this as owing to the supineness of the local 
authorities. " The low and contemptible state of your 
magistracy is the cause of much evil, particularly in 
the kingdom of Kerry. I say kingdom, for it seems, 
absolutely, not a part of the same country as the rest 
of Ireland.'^ 

'^ Sir, I will relate to you a circumstance that will 
give you an idea of the vigilance of the noiagistrates 
in that quarter. One Laly, a notorious offender, for 
whom a reward had been offered by Government, ap- 
peared openly in the county. A poor cottager was 
met by a person one morning as he was going to pay 
his rent. The person asked him, ' Was he not dis- 
tressed to make up the money?' The poor cottager 
innocently replied, ' Why should I want money, when 
I can at any time get fifty pounds for informing 



The Munster Circuit 133' 

against Laly 7^ For having dropped this expression^ 
the wretched cabin was that night broken open by six 
armed men; and as himself^ his wife and children 
sat round a little table^ at their tasteless and scanty 
meal of dry potatoes^ a blnnderbuss was discharged on 
them, scarcely one of the children escaped being 
wounded ; the father was shot dead on the spot. In 
Tralee another fellow broke gaol, and they are both 
walking about the country, not skulking or hiding, 
but in the face of day. To my own knowledge, in- 
formations were laid before a magistrate — a very 
respectable person — ^but no step has been taken to 
apprehend them, and the murderers and the outlaw 
stalk about the land, laughing at the sleeping laws/'^ 

The county of Cork almost equalled Kerry in law- 
lessness. Men with blackened faces (they could not 
be designated White Boys) roved about, armed with 
swords and bludgeons, and entered the shops of re- 
spectable citizens, injuring the goods and breaking 
the windows. The only reason which could be as- 
signed for such misconduct being that the shop con- 
tained English and Dublin goods. 

The condition of the prisons, in the various towns 
on the Munster Circuit towards the close of the 
eighteenth century, was very deplorable. In those 
days debtors, who were insolvents, were obliged to 
herd with criminals, and the following is a strong 
proof of the sad state to which persons in the always 
unhappy state of impecuniosity were subjected: — 
'' The debtors in the South Gaol of Cork were reduced 

1 Debates, vol. vil. pp. 41, 42. 



134 ^^^ Munster CiraiiU 

to the necessity of drinking salt water for tlie last 
three months, their pumps being for a long time dry, 
and many of them in Consequence very ill, they humbly 
besought the managers of the pipe- water, through the 
newspapers of the day (Nov. 27th, 1782), to redress 
that great want/^* The prisons were in so insecure 
a state that escapes from custody were of common 
occurrence. Several took place in 1 782. On December 
27th of that year, the criminals in the North Gaol of 
Cork, by the aid of saws, cut their way into the room 
where the keys were kept, which they broke open, 
and got into the upper rooms, and, by making a rope 
fast, five of them let themselves down into the street 
and escaped. Among them was a notorious robber, 
called Jack-a-boy, whose feats seem to have rivalled 
Jack Sheppard's. He was not so lucky this time, for he 
was captured the following morning at Blackpool, and 
conducted back to his old lodgings. He seems to have 
been long in custody — for, under date of 28th Sep- 
tember, 1786, it is related the criminals in the North 
Gaol attempted to escape. They broke several of the 
doors to get to the top of the gaol, which they suc- 
ceeded in reaching. Theu, by tying their blankets 
and sheets together, they made safe their descent to 
the street. Jack-a-boy, or John Callaghan, which was 
his proper name, together with a man named Linehan, 
both under sentence of transportation, made good 
their escape on this occasion. Another of the band 
was retaken, concealed under a boat on the quay. 
A few years later, in 1787, three felons, prisoners in 



Tuckey*s " Cork Remembrancer. 



)> 



. The Munster Ciradt, 135 

the South Gaol of Cork, under sentence of transport- 
ation^ escaped from their cells by means of the sewer ; 
and, getting into the river at low water, waded across. 
But it was low water with them, for, on landing, they 
were recaptured. 

In 1791 another attempt nearly succeeded. On the 
door of the County Gaol being opened a felon rushed 
out, made towards Hanover-street, over Wandesford 
Bridge, where the turnkey overtook him; upon this 
the convict, who was armed, attempted to shoot him, 
but, luckily for the turnkey, the pistol missed fire, and 
the convict was brought back in custody. 

An amusing instance is related of the ingenuity of a 
Cork citizen in capturing a thief, which deserves a 
place in this history. Mr. Nixon — for such was the 
citizen^s name — ^being repeatedly robbed of articles of 
jewellery, baited a gin rat-trap with a pair of diamond 
buckles, and placed the whole under a glass case. 
When the thief paid his customary predatory visit, 'he 
cautiously removed the case, and tried to snatch the 
glittering prize, but the efibrt caused the trap to close 
with a snap that held his hand tight, until Mr. Nixon 
caught him in the act, and he was speedily lodged in 
gaol. 

A case of abduction cost a respectable clergyman his 
life. A party of gentlemen, among whom was the 
Eev. Emanuel Moore, joined in pursuit of a gang who 
had forcibly abducted a farmer^s daughter, in County 
Cork, and coming close to them were met by a volley 
of fire-arms, by which the Eev. Mr. Moore was killed.* 

* Tuckey*s " Cork Bemembrancer." 



136 The Munster Circuit 

A considerable portion of tlie Munster circuit was 
much agitated by the Rebellion of 1798. The French 
expedition^ organized by Wolfe Tone, who, undoubtedly, 
was a man fitted to take a leading part in any perilous 
enterprise, had, in 1796, nearly effected a landing in 
Bantry Bay. Tone's diary gives ample evidence of 
what might have taken place had not the same power 
which saved England from the Spanish Armada saved 
Ireland f5pom the French invasion. Under date of 
December 22, 1796, Tone says, — 

''This morning, at eight, we neared Bantry Bay 
considerably, but the fleet is terribly scattered. No 
news of the Frateimite, I believe it is the first in- 
stance of an admiral, in a clean frigate, with moderate 
weather, and moonlight nights, parting company with 
his fleet. 

"December 25^%.-^Last night I had the strongest 
expectation that to-day we should debark, but at tw6 
this morning I was awakened by the wind. The wind 
continues right ahead, so that it is absolutely impos- 
sible to work up to the landing-place, and God know9 
when it will change. ^ 

" Had we been able to land the first day, and march 
directly to Cork, we should have infallibly carried it 
by a coup-de-main, and then we should have a footing 
in the country ; but, as it is — if we are taken — ^my fate 
will not be a mild one." 

Conway and Swanton, both Cork men, were actively 
engaged in supporting the cause of the United Irish- 
men. Conway was one of the directory. He was a 
watchmaker. Both he and Swanton were arrested, and 
lodged in Cork Gaol. Conway's health broke down 



The Munster Circuit, 1 37 

under the confinement, so lie ofEered to give informa- 
tion against his rebellious associates in exchange for 
his liberty. 

This oflTer was accepted, and the " Comwallis Cor- 
respondence '^ informs us, the information he gave 
was very valuable.* 

Mr. Swanton was a native of Dnnmanway, and 
effected his escape. He went to America, and em- 
ployed his talents in the legal profession with such 
success that he became a judge. He revisited his 
native land in after-years. The JMayor of Cork, in 
1796, was Sir Vesyan Pick, and we can make allow- 
ance for his perturbed mind when the news reached 
Cork that the French fleet were in Bantry Bay. He is 
said to have sent despatches to the Lord Lieutenant, 
informing him the city was in a state of readiness, and 
that at the time of writing he held a sword in one 
hand and a pistol in the other. 

The unfortunate brothers — Henry and John Sheares 
— were barristers and members of the Munster bar. 
Their father was a highly respectable and opulent 
banker residing ip Patrick-street, Cork, and was re- 
markable for his humanity — a humanity of deeds, not 
words. In 1774 he established a society in Cork for 
the relief and discharge of persons confined in the 
gaols for small debts. He was a member of the 
Irish Parliament, having represented the borough of 
Clonakilty in the House of Commons from 1761 to 
1768, in place of Lord Boyle, returned for the county. 
Both these gentlemen — Henry and John Sheares — 

* Comwallis Correspondence, vol. iii. p. 86. 



138 The Munster Circuit, 

imbibed the terribly democratic principles of the 
French Eevolution, and O'Oonnell, who met them on 
his return from the Colleges of St. Omer and 
Douai, was horrified at the language in which they 
boasted of having witnessed the execution of Louis 
XVI. 

They had been friends of Fitzgibbon, Earl of Clare, 
and it is said that Henry Sheares was his successful 
rival in gaining the affections of Miss Swete, to whom 
Fitzgibbon was greatly attached. 

It is highly creditable to the memory of that noble- 
man to relate the following anecdote, communicated 
by my respected friend, the late James Roche, the 
Roscoe of Cork, one of the most learned men of 
his time, and a frequent contributor to various 
periodicals : * — 

" Before the outbreak of the insurrection in 1798, 
during the assizes of Limerick, Lord Clare desired to 
have an interview with the two Sheareses, to which 
my father, in the hope of a pacific result, invited them 
to his house; but it ended, unfortunately, in more 
intense exasperation and irritation, as was discernible 
in the young men^s flushed features and defiant bear- 
ing as they parted. Yet the Chancellor's object was 
certainly benevolent and conciliatory ; but they were 
intractable. The interview was close and private, still 
I marked their aspect on leaving the house — inflamed 
and indignant in every lineament. Possibly overtures 

* These valuable papers, chiefly contributed to the " Gen- 
tleman's Magazine," were printed for circulation among his 
family and friends in two vols., entitled " Essays by an Octo- 
genarian.'' He died in 1853. 



The Munster Circuit 139 

repulsive to their feelings may have thus excited 
them/' 

They were, as we know, executed. They were be- 
trayed by Captain John Warnford Armstrong, who 
visited them as a friend. 

The judges who, towards the close of the last cen- 
tury, usually went the Munster Circuit, were Barry 
Yelverton, Lord Avonmore, the Right Hon. Thomas 
Kelly, Judge Crookshank, Judge Finucane, and 
Judge Day. Some anecdotes yet linger of these old 
judges. Judge Kelly, remarking a sporting juror of 
the county Clafe coming into court after a fine had 
been recorded against him for absence, reminded the 
dilatory juror, "Tou would not have been so late at 
a fox-hunt.^' 

Judge Day, who was a very tall man, was seen 
walking with the late Sir Arthur Clarke, whose 
dwarfish figure presented a very marked contrast with 
that of the judge. " There goes,'' said a witty bar- 
rister, "the longest Day and the shortest (KJ Night," 

When once, on the Munster Circuit, his Associate 
Judge, Serjeant Browne, was a mere dwarf in com- 
parison. This occasioned the following epigram : — 

" As brawny Day and puny Brown 
Came thanderiog into Limerick town, 

* Lord ! ' cries a lout, with wondering eyes, 

* Call you them Judges of Assize 1 * " 

At the Assizes of Limerick, in 1799, Judge Day was 
trying to dispose of the heavy calendar of criminals, so 
as to keep his time for opening the commission in 
Tralee. He was going into a fresh case so late as 



140 The Munster Circuit, 

twelve o'clock at night, despite the earnest protest of 
the bar. He Would listen to no remonstrance, and 
was directing the jury to be sworn, when a note was 
handed him by the crier. The judge read it, his 
features relaxed into a smile, and he suddenly declared, 
'^ He would go no further that night." The note con- 
tained the following lines, written by a member of the 
circuit named Casey : — 

" Try men by nighJt I ray lord, forbear ; 
Think what the wicked world will say ; 
Methinks I hear the rogues declare 
Thatyt*8<ice i» not done hy Day,'* 

Towards the close of the year 1797, a very tragical 
occurrence took place on the Munster circuit, for which 
indictments were preferred at the Lent Assizes, in 
April, 1798. The going judges were the Right Hon. 
Thomas Kelly and the Hon. Matthew Finucane. The 
grand jury was composed of gentlemen of the highest 
rank in the county — Lord Boyle, eldest son of the 
Earl of Shannon (foreman) ; Deane Freeman, Uniacke 
Fitzgerald, Longfield, Aldworth, Townsend, &c. ; and 
the senior judge charged them carefully; for among 
the cases to go before them was one charging no less 
personages than Robert Earl of Kingston and his son, 
the Hon. Robert King, with the crime of murder. 
The evidence proved that the Earl of Kingston, then 
Lord Kingsborough, accompanied by his son. Colonel 
King, arrived at the hotel in the principal street of the 
town of Kilworth, in the county of Cork, in the evening 
of a day in October, 1797. His lordship inquired 
whether a strange guest had arrived there that day. 



The Munster Circuit 141 

and was answered iu the affirmative. He then asked 
if he could see him, and was told '' he was then in the 
hoase, but had gone to his room/' His lordship then 
sent up his compliments by the waiter, with the ex- 
pression of his anxiety to see him on busmess. The 
waiter went to the guest^s bedroom; the door was 
locked, and the guest, who, it appeared, was a Colonel 
FitzGerald, refused to open it, and told the waiter 
*' not to disturb him at such a late hour, as he could 
attend to no business that evening/' His voice at once 
told Lord Eangsborough and his party that Colonel 
FitzGerald was the speaker inside. They voci- 
ferously demanded admittance. Their request was 
not acceded to, and the door yielded to pressure, and 
they rushed into the bedroom. Colonel FitzGerald 
was armed with a brace of pistols. Colonel King 
at once rushed towards him in order to seize him. 
Colonel FitzGerald grappled with him, when Lord 
Kingsborough, violently excited, shot FitzGerald, who 
immediately felL Dr. Pigot, of Kilworth, was sent 
for, but the wound was mortal, and the unhappy man 
shortly ceased to live. Lord Kingsborough at once 
went to the seat of his brother-in-law, Moore Park, 
Kilworth, residence of the Earl of Mount Cashel, and 
offered to take his trial, exclaiming, ''God! I don't 
know how I did it ; but I most sincerely wish it had 
been by some other hand than mine." Bills of indict- 
ment were prepared and sent before the grand jury, 
as I have already stated, and were found against 
Robert Earl of Kingston, Colonel the Hon. Robert 
King, and John Harvey. As the Earl of Kingston, 
father of Lord Kingsborough, had died subsequently 



144 ^^ Munster Circuit. 

Bingalar chance brought about the discovery of Colonel 
ritzGerald's infamous conduct. A young woman came 
to the house^ and asked to see Lady Kingsborough. 
She was admitted^ and told the lady she was servant 
in a lodging-house in Clayton-street^ Kennington. 
Some weeks back^ a gentleman and young lady came 
to lodge in that house. The lady had a quantity of 
beautiful hair. This servant had seen the bills oflfering 
rewards for the discovery of the missing young lady^ 
and the description in the bills excited her attention. 
One day, on eDftering the lady's bedchamber, she saw 
the lady cutting off her beautiful hair, so she made 
certain the young lady was the same alluded to in the 
bills. 

While the servant was describing these circum- 
stances, the door of the room in which she was telling 
all this to Lady Kingsborough opened, and in walked 
Colonel FitzGrerald. He had come on his daily visit 
of pretended sympathy and anxiety. He never noticed 
the servant, who grew pale and agitated on seeing 
him. She exclaimed, " Oh I my lady, that's the very 
gentleman who brought the young lady to our house.'* 

Lady Kingsborough almost fainted; and, utterly 
confounded. Colonel FitzGerald rushed from the house. 
Lord and Lady Kingsborough were sorely afflicted by 
the villany of this infamous man. They lost no time 
in recovering Miss King, and carried her to the family 
Beat — Mitchelstown, in the shelter of the Galtee moun- 
tains, in Ireland. This castle, now of great magni- 
ficence, was then a substantial mansion, surrounded by 
an extensive lawn and high wall. Here it was ex- 
pected she would be safe from her vile pursuer. The 



TJie Munster Circuit, 14S 

sons of the noble lord, and brothers of the Hon. Miss 
King, resolved to punish Colonel PitzGerald. Kobert, 
the second son, subsequently General Lord Lorton, 
challenged the Colonel to fight a duel, and, attended 
by his second — Major Wood, of Ashford — proceeded 
to the ground named for the duel in Hyde Park. 
The day was October 1, 1797. But so infamous was 
Colonel FitzGerald^s conduct in the eyes of all gen- 
tlemen, that not one would act as his second. The 
principals were placed only ten paces distant, and 
fired no less than four shots at each othfr, noue taking 
eflfect. 

When the fourth shot was fired. Colonel FitzGerald 
asked " if he could get some advice from Major Wood, 
as a friend?'^ 

That oflBicer at once said '^ he disclaimed any friend- 
ship with Colonel FitzGerald, but thought, if the 
Colonel acknowledged his baseness, the affair might 
end.^^ Colonel FitzGerald replied " he was wiUing to 
admit he had acted wrong.^^ This not being deemed 
a sufficient admission under the circumstances, the 
duel was renewed, and two more shots were exchanged, 
without any injury to either of the combatants. Then 
Colonel FitzGerald^s powder being all used, he asked 
for a supply, or the use of one of his antagonist's 
pistols. Major Wood declined this strange proposal, 
though Colonel King desired he would grant the 
request. 

An adjournment was then agreed on, and both par- 
ties were to renew the duel next morning. This 
was prevented by the police, who arrested both the 
principals. 

L 



146 , The Munster Circuit. 

Colonel FitzGerald succeeded in obtaining his release, 
and, with a determined persistence in his evil designs 
upon the young lady, went at once to Ireland, resolved 
to take her away again. He had a confidante in the 
maid who was the attendant on Miss King, and she 
acquainted him with her retreat. The town of Mitchels- 
town is close to the seat of the Earls of Kingston. 
The entrance to the grounds forms a side of the 
square, and on the opposite side is the hotel, then kept 
by Mr. Barry. The innkeeper^s suspicions as to tha 
employment of his strange guest were aroused by the 
conduct of this man. His appearance was singular — 
he was tall and very handsome, with flowing beard, and 
whiskers to match — ^yet he seemed to know no one in 
the town or neighbourhood. He shut himself up, 
during the day, in his room, and went out at night. 
The neighbouring Kilworth mountains were celebrated 
at that time as the resort of highway robbers. Captain 
Brennan's gang are remembered to this day, and it 
was thought this military-looking visitor might belong 
to the gang, or, maybe, was the bold Brennan himself. 
He mentioned this man, and his strange mode of 
passing his time, to Lord Kingsborough, who came 
over to take command of the yeomanry, as the rebellion 
was spreading over the land. Lord Kingsborough in- 
stantly guessed the visitor was neither Brennan nor 
any of his gang, but the terrible wolf who sought to 
deprive him of his once spotless lamb. Furious at this 
instance of persevering rascality, Lord Kingsborough 
went across the square to the hotel, and inquired for 
the stranger. Whether anything in Barry's manner 
had alarmed that individual, or finding Lord Kings- 



The Munster Circuit. 147 

borough retnmed urged his departure, we know not, 
but a post-boy of the inn told his lordship he had 
driven the strange gentleman that day to the inn of 
Kilworth. Lord Kingsborough was resolved to ascer- 
tain who this stranger was, and with his son. Colonel 
Eing, and a servant named Harvey, went to Kilworth. 
We already know what took place there. 

The following extract from my friend, the late Daniel 
Owen Madden's interesting " Bevelations in the South 
of Ireland,^' gives the conclusion of this romance in 
high life : — ^* Miss King was removed to England, and 
was domesticated under a feigned name. She was at 
last settled in the family of a respectable clergyman of 
the Established Church in Wales. Her manner was 
engaging in character, as well as in person. She is 
described as having been very attractive. The clergy- 
man did not know her real name, or the history of the 
interesting being domiciled under his roof. For ob- 
vious reasons he was kept in error by the friends of 
the young lady. The termination of her adventures 
was not the least remarkable fact in her romantic 
story. She was very much liked by the clergyman's 
family, and her conversational powers are described as 
being of a high order. Her own extraordinary adven- 
tures were, on one day, the theme of her narrative 
powers. She told the clergyman, under feigned names, 
the whole history of her life, and described, as belong- 
ing to the history oi* another person, the feelings which 
she had herself experienced, and the incidents which 
had occurred to her. The delineation, as might be 
supposed, was highly wrought and spirited. It moved 
the clergyman exceedingly, and he expressed the 

L 2 



148 The Munster Circuit. 

deepest pity for the victim painted by Miss King. 
While he was so expressing his feelings^ Miss King 
suddenly revealed to him who she was — ^ I am that 
very person for whom you have expressed so much 
interest/ 

'^ The clergyman was astonished at the intelligence, 
and showed at first more surprise than pleasure at the 
information. MissKing repented of her frankness.as she 
thought it likely that she would be removed to another 
abode. She told the clergyman that she supposed, 
after that information, he would not permit her to con- 
tinue an inmate of his household. He disclaimed such 
an intention ; he saw that the young lady was ^ more 
sinned against than sinning,' and he felt sincere com- 
passion for her suflTerings, and sympathy for her mis- 
fortunes. In many cases — especially where the sex is 
concerned, 'pity is akin to love.' It was so in the 
present instance, and the adventures of Miss King 
were finally closed more happily than might have been 
augured from their commencement. She was soon 
after married to this clergyman, and lived with him a 
very happy and exemplary life. She died several years 
ago in Wales.'' 



Tlie Munster Circuit. 149 



CHAPTER XI. 

Mr. Burton. — Mr. Quin. — Mr. Lysaght.— Mr. Keller. — Mr 
Harry Deane Grady. — ^Mr. Thomas Grady. — Mr. Richard 
Pennefather. — Mr. Thomas Goold. — Mr. Waggett. — Sir Wil- 
liam MacMahon, Bart, 

At the opening of the nineteenth century the Manster 
bar comprised a number of singularly able men. Cur- 
ran, of course, was the chief ; next came, if not in point 
of standing, certainly in point of ability, Charles Bub- 
ton. He was an Englishman by birth, and while some 
investigation respecting the intricate title to an estate 
in Ireland, then for sale, brought Mr. Burton, a law 
clerk in an English solicitor's office, to Dublin ; he came 
in contact with Curran, who was at once captivated 
with the young Englishman's legal acquirements, and 
modest demeanour. Curran saw the great advantage 
he would derive by securing Mr. Burton's aid in noting 
his briefs and supplying his legal arguments. He ac- 
cordingly made overtures, which Mr. Burton readily 
acceded to. Curran had no reason to repent his selec- 
tion. Fond of pleasure, delighting in society, and 
never a very profound lawyer, he found in Mr, Burton 
one he could implicitly confide in. Thus Curran's 
opinions on cases were soon distinguished by a clear- 
ness and depth of legal learning they never displayed 



rmmmmm^mi^^9^^vi» 



I SO T/te Munster Circtdt, 

before. In the admirable '' Sketcbes from the Note- 
Book of an Irish Barrister," which appeared very many 
years ago in the London Metropolitan Magazine, the 
gifted writer mentions the following anecdote : — " We 
heard an eminent solicitor say that he was once de- 
spatched with a very heavy brief, in a very important 
caase, to Curran, who was then circulating his flashes 
of wit and merriment at a dinner-table, and he wrote 
with a pencil on a slip of paper, ^ Carry the brief to 
Mr. Burton, but I will thank you for the fee/ The 
attorney did so. Mr. Burton happened to be also at 
dinner — a very light one, a small roll, cofiee, and an 
egg or two. He had companions, too, in the shape of 
a pile of law-books, which he consulted alternately 
with a draught of the sober berry's decoction. 

There is no doubt Mr. Burton's well-known services 
to Mr. Curran were a great introduction for him. He 
was called to the bar Michaelmas term, 1792, and soon 
after joined the Munster Circuit. Had it not been for 
this connexion with Curran, I can hardly suppose he 
would have had the courage to come, as a stranger to 
the land and the people, amongst the members of the 
Munster Circuit. But they soon learned to appreciate 
the little Englishman. The circuit business is usually 
more difficult of attainment than that in Dublin. 
Family ties, long association, private friendship, often 
direct the briefs in cases on circuit, and it is to Cur- 
rants influence Mr. Burton probably owed his ready 
acceptation by the practitioners of Munster. It is 
said that a fishery case, bristling with difficult sections 
of Acts of Parliament, tried at the assizes for Kerry, 
first brought Mr. Burton to the front. He held the 



The Munster Circuit. 151 

junior brief, and had made himself well up in the law 
of the intricate case. As sometimes happens, when 
the case was called, Mr. Burton^s leader was engaged 
elsewhere, and the second counsel, though an excellent 
judge of fish on the dinner-table, was not equally at 
home with the Fishery Acts. To his great relief, 
therefore, he soon ascertained that his unknown junior 
was a powerful and efficient support. He evinced his 
opinion of Mr. Burton^s skill and legal acumen in this 
particular branch of legal learning so highly, that he 
entrusted him not only with the conduct, but the 
arguing the case. The admirable manner in which the 
young lawyer acquitted himself made such an impres- 
sion upon the Kerry attorneys, that Mr. Burton was 
always in great request at all future assizes of Tralee. 

The fishery case did not end there. Points saved 
were argued in the King^s Bench, Dublin; and here 
agaip Mr. Burton greatly added to his reputation. He 
was much admired for the closeness of his reasoning, 
the clearness of his statements, the aptitude of his 
cases in point. He soon was recognized as one of the 
leaders of the Munster Circuit. 

Another eminent member of the Munster Circuit in 
1800 was Mr. Qum. Solemn, dramatic, melancholy, 
but learned, earnest, and eloquent, "he was,^^ says 
Madden, "a grave elocutionist, and delivered his 
speeches in the stately style of Kemble playing Cato. 
In some cases he was most imposing and effective ; but 
his style was too tragic for the every-day cases of the 
bar. In the case of a Higgins or a Murphy he was as 
grand in his manner as if the house of Atreus were his 
clients. In stating a case in trover you were reminded 



152 The Munster Circuit, 

of the soliloquy in Hamlet, I know not whether he 
was a distant relative or connexion of his namesake, 
the celebrated actor ; but certainly the King's Counsel 
of the Munster Bar had all the air of a stage-taught 
and perhaps a stage-struck lawyer. Like his name- 
sake, the great actor, he was heavy and monotonous. 
The actor and the advocate both wanted variety. 
Horatio, Dorax, Falstaff, still was Quin. Quin's busi- 
ness was not of a very enduring character, and it is 
said an opinion he gave, during a Cork election, which 
was wrong, caused him to lose a great share of his 
civil business. As a crown prosecutor, of course he 
was not subject to the caprice of fortune, and the mis- 
demeanants who figured in the calendar of prisoners 
during each assizes he attended, found their depreda- 
tion upon purses and pockets, their head-breaking and 
felony, publicly prosecuted in a lofty style which would 
well have suited the bar of the House of Lords. 

In contrast to Quin, wide as the poles asunder, may 
be named Ned Lysaght and Jerey Keller. Full of 
fun, frolic, bon moty jest, they were the delight of the 
bar mess, and preferred the social board to the board 
of green cloth on which witnesses were placed. Ly- 
saght was a native of the county of Clare, born at 
Brickhill in 1763. He first intended applying himself 
to practise as a barrister in England, and was called to 
the English bar in 1798, and in the same year to the 
Irish, and had some practice in Westminster. But the 
steady, technical, and matter-of-fact habits of the Eng- 
lish courts were not suited to the jovial, social tempe- 
rament of the devil-may-care Clare man. He told a 
friend '^ he had not law enough for the King^s Bench, 



— ss—^^— ^^^*^^*^^°— :^^*^— pg^F^M^ I ^M»samm^mr'w^^99mm9mrr^mm9 



The Munster Circuit 153 

he was not dull enough for the Court of Chancery, and 
that before he could make way at the Old Bailey, he 
must shoot Garrow (then the most celebrated practi- 
tioner in criminal cases), which would be very un- 
pleasant to him/' 

Accordingly Ireland became the scene of his labours, 
and her politics the theme of his ready pen. 

He got business on circuit, but was never in much 
repute as a lawyer. He laughed an opponent out of 
court rather than overthrew him by legal weapons. 
He was great at the bar mess, full of anecdote and 
epigram.' 

He left the circuit in 1810. He was then appointed 
one of the divisional magistrates of the city of Dublin, 
but he was not destined long to enjoy the emoluments of 
office. He died that same year, leaving a widow and 
three daughters. One became the wife of the Right 
Rev. Dr. Griffin, Lord Bishop of Limerick. 

As a substantial proof of the respect felt for him and 
his amiable family by the bench and bar of Ireland, 
the very handsome sum of 2484Z. was subscribed for 
them. John Lloyd and Peter Burrowes were the 
treasurers, and received a very grateful expression of 
thanks from the widow and her daughters for their 
attention during the collection of this fiind. 

Mr. Keller, or Jerry, as he was generally called, was 
one of the celebrities of the Munster bar. I am told 
by those who were personally acquainted with him, he 
had the most mirth-provoking countenance ever seen, 
and this, added to the natural drollery of the man, 

* For many anecdotes, vide '* The Irish Bar," pp. 206—213. 



1 54 The Munster Circuit 

must have been irresistible. With his son and daughters 
I was very intimate, and they presented a strong con- 
trast to their sire, for the son was grave, and the 
daughters serious — almost puritanical in their man- 
ners. 

The earliest anecdote I have of Keller is connected 
with the birth of Thomas Moore. This occurred on 
the 28th May, 1779. A young barrister who lodged 
in the house of the grocer, Mr. Moore, in No. 12, 
Aungier-street, the comer of Little Longford- 
street, Dublin, invited a few choice companions, Jerry 
Keller being one, to dine with him on that day. When 
they had assembled and dined, and were disposed to 
enjoy a convivial evening, the servant announced '^ that 
Mrs. Moore was confined, and the baby was a son.^' 
Thereupon the young host very considerately proposed 
an adjournment of the party to a neighbouring tavern, 
where they could indulge their merriment without dis- 
turbing the lady of the house. This met a ready ap- 
proval. '^ Quite right,'' said Keller, " that we should 
adjourn '£ro re nataJ^ 

Keller was appointed executor to the will of Mr. 
Byrne, a very eminent shoemaker in Dublin. The 
affairs were somewhat complicated, so that an equity 
suit was necessary for the administration of the assets. ^ 
Keller, being asked '^ in what capacity he would sue,'' 
replied, ^^ Of course I'll shoe as sole executor." 

Mr. Amory Hawksworth, a very distinguished mem- 
ber of the Munster Circuit, having made objection to 
evidence offered by Keller, sustained his objection by 
very good argument. Judge Finucane said, " What 
reply do you make to that, Mr. Keller ? 



}i 



The Munster Circuit, 155 1 

" This, my lord/^ replied the wag, — \ 

" Amory Hawkesworth ! Amory Hawkesworth ! ! 

Little your talk ! little yoiir talk's worth." 

There were two Gradys, besides the Chief Baron 
O^Grady, at the bar, and of these Harry Deanb Grady 
had great repute on the Munster Circuit. He was 
low-sized, had a rubicund countenance, with a stento- 
rian voice that almost blew a witness out of the chair. 
He was by far the most able cross-examiner in the 
circuit. He delighted in tackling an obtuse-looking, 
but really sharp-witted peasant, who had made up his 
mind to tell as little against his side as he conveniently 
could. With such a witness Harry Deane Grady 
played, as a practised angler with a stubborn fish. 
He gave him line enough, and, with a '^ Just so," 
" Quite right," ^^ Exactly," lured the witness into the 
notion he was outwitting the counsellor ; but all this 
time Harry Deane Grady was winking knowingly at 
the box containing the important twelve with his ^ury 
eye. 

The other Grady was Thomas, so very near-sighted 
he read with difficulty, and was called " Spectacle 
Grady." He also was a wit, but not so popular as 
either Keller or Lysaght, for his wit was steeped in 
venom, and he had once to pay dearly for it. He 
wrote the fiercest satire ever penned, as we shall have 
occasion to see later on, when his poem ^^ The Nose- 
gay,'^ subjected him to an action for libel at the suit of 
Mr, Bruce of Limerick. Tom Grady was one of the 
minority of the Irish bar who supported the Union, 
and, if reliance is to be placed upon Sir Jonah Bar- 
rington, delivered the singular speech at the bar 



I $6 The Munster Circuit 

meeting, held in the Exhibition Boom, in William- 
street, Dublin, on the 9th December, 1799.' 

Mr. Grady was appointed an assistant barrister by 
Lord Clare, but he did not continue to practise at the 
bar. Satire was his /or^e, and he wielded a scathing 
pen. 

Another of the most eminent members of the Mun- 
ster circuit was Richard Pbnnbpathbr. He was bom 
in 1773, and his equally distinguished brother, Edward, 
a year later. Their father. Major Pennefather, was 
member for Cashel. Richard^s career in Trinity Col- 
lege was distinguished by his taking an optime. Both 
these famous lawyers were called to the Irish bar in 
1795, when Richard went the Munster Circuit. He 
was pre-eminent in his professional career, and justly 
regarded one of the leaders of the Munster bar, while 
he continued on circuit. His elevation to the Exche- 
quer bench being already recorded by me in '^ The 
Irish Bar,'' it is unnecessary to relate it here.' SuflBlce 
it to say, the talents and learning which procured him 
large practice at the bar shone with increased lustre 
on the bench for many years. 

Thomas Goold was a very celebrated member of the 
Munster Circuit. He was of an old and distinguished 
county of Cork family, and had great personal recom- 
mendations. He was bom about the year 1770, and 
early acquired a name in literature. When the Right 
Hon. Edmund Burke published "Reflections on the 
French Revolution,'' a host of critics violently attacked 

' Vide « The Irish Bar," p. 128. 
» lUd. p. 291. 



The Munster Circuit. 1$^ 

his work. Mr. Goold, who, while in Paris, witnessed 
some of the horrors of the Revolution, felt able to 
undertake a ^' defence '* of Mr. Barkers book. He 
wrote ably and successfully, and made a friend for 
himself in the great statesman. On being called to 
the bar, Mr. Goold obtained practice at nisi priusy and 
was one of the most unflinching opponents to the 
Union. He made a vehement speech at the bar meet- 
ing already referred to, and concluded in most im- 
pressive words. 

Goold soon got into extensive practice on the Mun- 
ster Circuit, and was sure to be retained in all im- 
portant cases. He was appointed a serjeant-at-law in 
1823, and for the ensuing nine years conducted crown 
business, and was a leader on the Munster Circuit, 
He was a most able and eloquent advocate. 

He continued on the circuit until 1832, when he 
was appointed a Master in Chancery. He died in 
1846. 

WiLLUM Waggbtt, Recorder of Cork, was for many 
years in great repute on the Munster Circuit. He 
always attended the assizes of Limerick and Cork, and 
in all cases where appeals to the passions were to be 
made, was sure of a brief. 

. He had been called in 1798, and was shortly elected 
Recorder of Cork. A very great proof of his disin- 
terestedness in regard of money is so creditable that I 
give it room here, though it did not take place until 
the year 1816. 

Mr. Waggett had discharged the duties of Recorder- 
ship by deputy until 1815, when his deputy, Mr. 
Wilmot, dying, he went to Cork to reside. Upon 



158 The Mufister Circtnt. 

which, at a Coort of lyOyer Hundred, held at the 
Guildhall, Cork, on the 24th June, 1816, it was re- 
solved : — 

^^ That in consequence of our respected and worthy 
Eecorder, William Waggett, Esq., having given up his 
attendance at the superior courts of law for the last 
twelve months, and entirely devoted his valuable time 
to the labours in discharge of his duty as Recorder, 
personally, it is peculiarly incumbent on the Court to 
make some adequate remuneration for such a sacrifice 
to the public good, and that the Council should be 
requested to make an order that the Recorder should 
be paid the sum of 500i!. out of the Corporation reve- 
nues, to be annually continued whilst he shall so 
devote his time in discharging the duties of that im- 
portant office." 

This very considerate and proper proceeding on 
the part of the Corporation of Cork produced the 
following letter, addressed to the Mayor, from the 
Recorder : — 

Corky JuTve 2hih, 1816. 
'' My dear Sir, — I beg leave to trouble you on the 
subject of the resolution passed at the Court of D'Oyer 
Hundred on Monday, by which a large sum of money 
was voted to me. When I sought for the honour of 
being elected Recorder of this city, I formed a deter- 
mination not to accept of any remuneration for per- 
forming the duty of the office, beyond the salary and 
ordinary emoluments enjoyed by my predecessors. Many 
reasons combine to prevent me from departing from 
such a resolution. You will^ therefore^ much oblige 



The Munster Circuit 159 

me by communicating to the freemen, at the opening 
of the Court on Thursday, that I feel the deepest grati- 
tude for their good opinion, and wishes to serve me, 
but must most respectfully, yet firmly, decline the boon 
which their kind, yet excessive liberality would be- 
stow. 

'^ I hope I shall not be thought presumptuous in 
requesting that the resolution be rescinded, and not 
sent up to the Council. 

^' I have the honour to be, 
'^ My dear Sir, 

'^ Your obedient Servant, 
" Wm. Waggett, Recorder, 
'' To the Right Worshipful the Mayor.'' 

The letter of the Recorder was duly laid before the 
Court of D'Oyer Hundred, on the 27th June, when it 
was unanimously resolved : — 

'^ That so disinterested and honourable a letter should 
be entered on the records of the Court, and that the 
above proceedings should be published in the Cork and 
Dublin papers. 

" By the Court, 

'' W. Jones, Town Clerk." 

I possess several pleadings and cases written on 
by Mr. Waggett, all showing his great ability as a 
lawyer. He became latterly very eccentric in his 
habits, and careless in dress. He died at a very 
advanced age. 

I might swell my catalogue with notices of Messrs. 



l6o The Mimster Circuit 

Hoare, Townsend, White, FitzGerald, Franks, Lloyd, 
and other eminent members of the circuit, but I prefer 
now relating some of the remarkable trials which em- 
ployed their abilities, their learning, and their elo- 
quence. Before doing so I must mention Mr, William 
MacMahon, who rose to the dignity of Sir William 
MacMahon, Bart., Master of the Bolls, and who was 
a very eminent member of the Munster Circuit. He 
was son of John MacMahon, Esq., patentee, comptroller 
of the port of Limerick, by Mary, daughter of James 
Stackpole, Esq., of Cork. He was born in 1776, and 
was called to the bar, joined the Munster Circuit, on 
23rd April, 1805 ; he was appointed third Serjeant, on 
the resignation of John Philpot Curran, as Master of 
the Bolls in 1814. Serjeant MacMahon was raised to 
the judicial bench as Master of the Bolls, sworn in as 
Privy Councillor, and created a Baronet on 6th May, 
1815. He continued to preside over the Bolls until 
his death in 1837, when he was succeeded by the 
eminent Baron, Sir Michael O'Loghlen. It is related 
that when addressing the juries on circuit Serjeant 
MacMahon was accustomed to scatter showers of 
saliva very unpleasantly upon his neighbours in the 
bar seats. This coming very unexpectedly in Cork 
upon the head of the late Sir John Franks, who sai? 
next to William Henn, the latter observed, '^ John, I 
thought we were near the Cove of Cork, but it is plain 
we are within reach of Spit-head." 

It is also related that the learned Serjeant, who was 
very fluent, did not care so much about sense as sound, 
and used to confuse language strangely in his efibrts to 
be sublime. As for example: — '^ Gentlemen of the 



The Munster CircuiU i6i 

jury, I smell a rat — but 1^11 nip it in the bud/' On 
another occasion he said, " My client acted boldly. 
He saw the storm brewing in the distance, but he was 
not dismayed. He took the bull by the horns, and he 
indicted him for perjury.'^ 



H 



1 62 The Munstet Circuit. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Eemarkable trial of Sir Henry Brown Hayes for abduction of 

Miss Pike. 

• 
Thb trial of Sir Henry Brown Hayes for the abduction 
of Miss Pike took place at the Cork Spring Assizes, on 
the 13th April, 1801, before Mr. Justice Day. A very 
numerous and able, bar appeared on both sides. 

The counsel for the prosecution were Messrs. Curran, 
Hoare, Townsend, Goold, Burton, Waggett, and Wil- 
mot ; attorney, Mr. Richard Martin. 

The counsel for the prisoner were Messrs. Quin, 
Keller, White, Grady, Fitzgerald, Hitchcock, Franks, 
and Dobbin ; attorney, Mr. Fleming. 

Two indictments were found by the grand jury— one 
for the abduction, another for procuring it; but, on 
coming into court, the counsel for the Crown quashed 
the second indictment, and went to trial upon the first. 
This contained two counts — one for abduction with 
intent to marry, the other with intent to defile. The 
case is fully detailed in Mr. Currants speech, which was 
as follows : — 

'^ My Lord, and Gentlemen of the Jury, — ^It is my 
duty, as one of the counsel in this prosecution, to state 
to you such facts as I am instructed will be established 
by evidence, in order that you may be informed of the 



The Munster Circuit. 163 

nature of the offence charged by the indictment, and 
be rendered capable of understanding that evidence, 
which, without some previous statement, might appear 
irrelevant or obscure. 

'' This is an indictment against the prisoner for 
having feloniously carried away Mary Pike, with intent, 
against her will, to marry her ; there is another charge 
also, that he did feloniously carry her away with 
intent to defile her/' 

Having stated the alterations in the law to meet the 
difficulty of procuring evidence in these cases, and that 
the offence was capital — ^f or taking away with intent to 
marry or defile, although in fact no marriage or defile- 
ment took place, was punishable with death — ^and, 
referring to the seriousness of the offence, Mr. Curran 
continued : " I will now state to you the facts, as I am 
instructed they will appear to you in evidence. The 
prisoner at the bar (and, considering his education, his 
age, rank, and situation in society, I do regret, from 
my soul, that he is there) married many years ago ; his- 
wife died, leaving him the surviving parent of, I 
believe, many children. Miss Mary Pike is the only 
child of a person whom, I suppose, you knew as Mr. 
Samuel Pike, of this city. He had devoted a long life 
to a very persevering and successful industry, and 
died advanced in years, leaving this, his only child, 
entitled to all the fruits of his laborious and persevering 
application. The property she is entitled to, I under- 
stand, is very great indeed. At the time of the trans- 
action to which your attention must be called, she was 
living in the house, and under the protection, of an 
universally respected member of society, Mr. Cooper 

M 2 



164 The Munster Circuit, 

Penrose. From the moment her mind was susceptible 
of it, no expense was spared to give her every accom- 
plishment that she was capable of receiving ; and in 
the house of her own father, while he lived, and in the 
house of Mr. Penrose, when she came under his pro- 
tection, her mind was framed to the most correct 
principles of modesty, and delicacy, and decorum, with 
these additional characteristics, humility and reserve, 
that belong to that most respectable sect of which her 
father was a member. The prisoner at the bar, it 
seems, had heard of her, and had heard of her property ; 
for it is a material circumstance in this case that he 
never, by any accident, had seen her, even for a 
moment, until he went to see and indentify her person 
and mark her out the victim of his projected crime. 
Some time before the 22nd of July, 1797, he rode 
down to the residence of Mr. Penrose. Mr. Penrose 
has a country house, built in a very beautiful situation, 
and which attracts the curiosity of strangers, who 
frequently go to see it. The prisoner at the bar went 
into the grounds as one of these, and seemed to observe 
everything with great attention. Mr. Penrose im- 
mediately came out to him, and conducted him to 
whatever objects he supposed might gratify his curiosity. 
He affected to be much entertained ; he lingered about 
the grounds until the hour of Mr. Penrose's dinner 
approached. Mr. Penrose, quite a stranger to the 
prisoner at the bar, was not, I suppose, very anxious 
to invite a perfect stranger in among his family. How- 
ever, with that good nature which any man of his 
cordial and honest turn of mind will feel it his duty to 
exercise, he did invite Sir Henry Hayes to dinner. 



TJu Munster Circuit. 165 

The invitation was accepted of, and thus the first step 
towards the crime he meditated was an abuse of the 
sacred duty which the hospitality of his host imposed 
upon him as a man and a gentleman. He made his 
observations and took his departure ; but it was not a 
departure for the last time. 

^' Mrs. Pike, the widowed mother of the prosecutrix, 
was then in Cork in a dangerous state of health. In 
order to get Miss Pike out of the hands of her pro- 
tector, a stratagem was adopted. Dr. Gibbings was 
the attending physician upon her mother — ^it does not 
appear that the prosecutrix knew the handwriting of 
Dr. Gibbings — but it was necessary that a letter should 
be sent, as if from Dr. Gibbings ; but, to do so with 
effect, it was necessary that a letter should be written 
to Mr. Penrose in a handwriting having such a resem- 
blance to the doctor s as might pass for genuine. To 
qualify himself for this, the prisoner made some pretext 
for sending a written message to Dr. Gibbings, which 
produced a written answer from the doctor. Thus 
was he furnished with the form of the doctor's hand- 
writing, which he intended to counterfeit; an^, 
accordingly, there was written, on the 22nd of July, 
1797, a letter so like the character of Dr. Gibbings 
that he himself, on a slight glance, would be apt to 
take it for his own. It was in these words : — 

'' ' Dear Sir, — Our friend Mrs. Pike is taken suddenly 
ill ; she wishes to see Miss Pike. We would recom- 
mend despatch, as we think she has not many hours to 
live. — Tours, 'Robert Gibbings.' 

*' Addressed to Mr. Cooper Penrose.'' 



1 66 The Munster Circuit 



it 



The first step to the crime was a flagrant breach 
of hospitality ; and the second, towards the completion, 
was the inhuman fraud of practising upon the piety of 
the child, to decoy her into the trap of the ravisher, to 
seduce her to destruction by the angelic impulses of that 
feeling that attaches her to the parent — that sends her, 
after the hour of midnight, from the house of her pro- 
tector, to pay the last duty and to receive the parting 
benediction. Such was the intention with which the 
prosecutrix on a rainy night, between one and two 
o'clock in the morning, rose from her bed. Such was 
her intention ; it was not her destination. It was not 
to visit the sick-bed of a parent ; it was not to carry a 
daughter's duty of consolation to her dying mother ; 
it was not for that she came abroad. It was that she 
might fall into the hands of preconcerted villany ; that 
she should fall into that trap which was laid for her, 
with the intention to despoil her of everything that 
makes human existence worth the having by any female 
who has auy feeling of delicacy or honour, I should 
state to you that she left the house of Mr. Penrose in 
his carriage, attended by two female relatives, one of 
them his daughter, and when they had advanced half 
way to Cork, the carriage was suddenly met by four or 
five men. They ordered the coachman to stop. One 
of them was dressed in a great-coat and armed with 
pistols, and had the lower part of his face concealed by 
tying a handkerchief round it. 

*^ The ladies, as you may suppose, were exceedingly 
terrified at such a circumstance as this. They asked, 
as well as their extreme terror would permit, ^ What 
they sought for ? ' they were answered, ^ They must be 



The Munster Circuit, 167 

searclied/ On looking about, they perceived another 
chaise stationed near the place where they were de- 
tained. It will appear to you that Miss Pike was taken 
forcibly out of the carriage from her friends ; that she 
was placed in the other chaise I have mentioned, in which 
she found — shame to tell it ! — a woman. The traces 
of Mr. Penrose's chaise were then cut, and the ladies 
that came in it left, of course, to find their way as well 
as they could, and return in the dark. 

^' The carriage into which the prosecutrix was put 
drove oflF towards Cork ; the female who was with her 
will appear to you to have been the sister of the 
prisoner. Happy for her that death has taken her 
away from being the companion of his trial and of his 
punishment, as she was the accomplice of his guilt; but 
she is dead. The carriage drove on to the seat be- 
longing to the prisoner, called Mount Vernon. At the 
bottom of the avenue, of considerable length, the 
horses refused to go on, upon which the prisoner rode 
up to the chaise, dismounted, opened the door, took 
the prosecutrix out, and carried her, struggling in his 
arms, to his house. When he arrived there, he carried 
her upstairs, where she saw a man attired like a priest, 
and she was then told that she was brought there to 
marry the prisoner. Then whatever sort of ceremony 
they thought right to perform took place ; something 
^as muttered in a language which she partly did not 
liear and partly could not understand; she was then 
called his wife, then Lady Hayes. A letter was then 
to be written to apprise her miserable relatives of their 
new affinity. A pen was put into her hand, and she 
consented to write, in hopes it might lead to her deli- 



1 68 The Munster Circuit. 

verance ; but when the sad scrawl was finished, and the 
subscription only remained, neither entreaties nor 
menaces could prevail upon her to write the odious 
name of the ravisher. She subscribed herself by the 
surname of her departed father. 

'^ My Lord, and Gentlemen of the Jury, — ^Tou will 
soon see the young lady. You will see that, whatever 
grace of proportion her person possesses, it does not 
seem formed for much power of resistance or self- 
defence. But there is a last eflfort of sinking modesty 
that can rally more than the powers of nature to the 
heart, and send them to every fibre of the frame — ^when 
they can achieve more than pure vulgar strength can 
do upon any occasion. That efibrt she did make, and 
made it with effect; and, in that instance, innocence 
was crowned with success. 

'^ Baffled in his purposes of force, he sought to soften, 
to conciliate. ' And do you know me ? ' said he. 
'Yes,' answered she, 'I do know you; I do now 
remember you did go to my cousin, as you say you 
did. I remember your mean intrusion. You are Sir 
Henry Hayes ! ' 

'^ She remained in this captivity until her friends got 
intelligence of her situation. Justice was applied to ; 
a party went to the house of the prisoner for the pur- 
pose of releasing her. The prisoner had fled. His 
sister, his accomplice, had fled. They left behind them 
Miss Pike, who was taken back to her relatives. 
Information was lodged immediately; the prisoner 
absconded; Government was apprised, and felt as it 
ought. By proclamation, a reward was offered for the 
apprehension of the prisoner. The family of Miss 



Tfie Munster Circuit. 169 

Pike also offered a considerable sum in addition. For 
some time lie kept in concealment ; the rewards were 
offered in vain; the prisoner was outlawed, but soon 
reappeared in Cork. 

''While Sir Henry Hayes was appearing at large. 
Miss Pike fled to England, where she remained for two 
years. 

"A few months ago, previous to the last term, a 
letter was sent to Miss Pike by the prisoner. The 
purport of it was to state that his conduct had been 
honourable and delicate, and asserting that any lady 
could not be so sanguinary as to wish for the blood 
of an individual, however guilty; intimating a threat 
that her conduct upon this occasion would work her 
fate through life ; desiring her to withdraw her adver- 
tisement ; saying he would abide his trial at the Assizes 
of Cork ; boasting his influence in the city in which he 
lived; thanking God he stands as high as any man in 
the regards of rich and poor, of which the inefficiency 
of her present and former rewards must convince her. 

" The outlawry was reversed without opposition by 
the counsel for the prosecution, because their object 
was to admit him to plead to the charge, and take his 
trial by a jury. He pleaded to that indictment, and 
now stands at the bar of this Court for the purpose of 
trial. 

'' The publicity of his living in this city during two 
years did so impress the minds of the friends of this 
unhappy lady with despair of obtaining justice, that they 
did struggle hard to try the offence at a distant place, 
in the capital, where the authority of the Court might 
keep, public justice in some sort of countenance. That 



I/O The Munster Circuit, 

application was refused, and justly did you, my lord, 
and the learned judges, your brethren, ground your- 
selves upon the reason which you gave. *We will 
not,^ said you, ' give a judicial sanction to a reproach 
of such a scandalous atrocity upon any county in the 
land, much less upon the second city in it. ' '^ 

Having referred to the abduction of the Misses Ken- 
nedy,^ Mr. Curran continued : — 

" I am glad that the Court of King^s Bench did not 
yield to the despair which had taken place in the minds 
of those who were anxious to bring the prosecution 
forward. I am glad the prisoner was sent to the bar, 
in order that you may decide upon it/^ 

Mr. Curran then applied himself to the evidence 
necessary to sustain the indictment under the statute. 
Having done so, he thus concluded his opening state- 
ment : '* Once more, and for the last time, let me state 
to you, you have heard the charge. Believe nothing 
upon my statement. Hear and weigh the evidence. 
If you doubt its truth, acquit without hesitation. By 
the laws of any country, because by those of eternal 
justice, doubt and acquittal are synonymous terms. If, 
on the other hand, the guilt of the prisoner shall, 
unhappily, be clearly proved, remember what you owe 
to your fame, your conscience, and your country. I 
shall trouble you no further, but shall call evidence in 
support of the indictment, and I have not a doubt that 
there will be such a verdict given — whether conviction 
or acquittal — as may hereafter be spoken of without 
kindling any shame in yourselves or your country.^* 

* Atdey p. 87. 



The Mufister Circuit, 171 

Before the witnesses were examined, Mr. Curran 
requested the judge would not allow any person to 
stand with the prisoner at the bar. 

Mr. Quin, on behalf of the prisoner, had no desire 
that his friends should stay by him, but mentioned 
that when Home Tooke was tried, he was attended by 
his counsel. Mr. Justice Day said: ^'The prisoner 
should have that privilege when he came to make his 
defence ; but, for the present, all, save his attorney and 
one of his counsel, were ordered to withdraw from the 
bar." 

There was great sensation in Court when Miss Pike 
came upon the table to give evidence. She was at first 
a little agitated, but soon regained her self-possession, 
and detailed the case as stated by counsel. I give 
some extracts from her examination on the direct, and 
when cross-examined. To the questions of the counsel 
for the prosecution she detailed as follows : — 

'^ How did you get into his house ? '* 

'^ He took me in his arms into the parlour.^^ 

'^What happened after you got into the house? 
Were there lights in the parlour ? ^' 

^' There was a snuff of a candle, just going out." 

" Miss Pike, be so good as to tell what happened 
after you got into the parlour. Did any other person 
make their appearance ? " 

'^ Yes ; two women." 

" Did you see anybody else in the house that night, 
but Sir Henry Hayes and the two women ? " 

'^ I did not until the next morning." 

*' Did you see any person in that house at any time 
after ? " 



172 Tlu Munster Ciradt. 



^^ Yes, a man in priest^s habits." 

" Was it at night or next morning ? " 

" It was next morning/' 

" At break of day ? '' 

" Yes." 

" Did anything particular happen then ? " 

" Before that I was forced upstairs." 

" By whom ? " 

" Sir Henry Hayes and his sister." 

" After you were forced upstairs, did anything par- 
ticular happen ? " 

" Before that, there was a kind of ceremony read, 
and they forced a ring upon my finger. Before I was 
taken upstairs there was a kind of ceremony of 
marriage, and a man appeared dressed in the habit 
of a clergyman.^^ 

Mr. Justice Day: ''You said something about a 
ring ? " 

Miss Pike : '' A ring was attempted to be forced on 
my finger, which I threw away." 

Counsel : " After you were forced upstairs, and after 
this kind of a ceremony of marriage was performed, did 
anything particular happen upstairs ? " 

*' I was locked into a room." 

" What sort of a room ? " 

'* A small room with two windows." 

'' What happened after that ? Do you recollect any- 
thing more ? " 

'' There was tea brought up, and after that Sir Henry 
Hayes came up." 

" After Sir Henry Hayes came up, did anything 
happen ? " 



The Munster Circuit. 173 

Judge : *' It is now about four years ago, and there- 
fore mention only what you remember/^ 

Miss Pike : '' I remember his father coming up/' 

Judge : ^' Was the room furnished or unfurnished ?'' 

Miss Pike : ^' There was a bed and a table in it/' 

Counsel: '^Do you recollect anything that passed 
after Sir Henry's coming up ; and, if you do, state it to 
the Court ? " 

Miss Pike : '^ I recollect perfectly his coming in and 
out, and behaving in the rudest manner, and saying I 
was his wife." 

'^ Were you restored shortly after ? " 

'* About eight o'clock next morning." 

'' Was or was not any part of that transaction be- 
tween you and Sir Henry Hayes with your consent or 
against it ? " 

^' Against it, entirely." 

*' While at Mount Vernon, did you write anything ?" 

^' Yes j I wrote a note to my uncle to let him know 
where I was." 

Miss Pike was cross-examined by Ml*. Quin. He 
asked the following questions : — 

'^ Can you swear, that at the time you knew any one of 
the persons who took and carried you away from that 
part of the Glanmire road where you were stopped ? " 

*' No ; I cannot." 

" Your uncle mentioned something as you went 
along of the necessity of giving immediate information 
—did he not ? " 

'' He did." 

*' When did you give the informations ? " 

" The Monday morning following." 



174 ^^ Munster Circuit. 

^'Do you recollect what day of the week it happened ?^^ 

'^ I believe Saturday/' 

" And you gave the informations on Monday ? '^ 

'' I did/' 

^^ Where did you swear them ? '' 

'^ At my aunt's/' 

*' Who drew them out ? " 

" I do not know who wrote them/' 

'^ Do you recollect whether you swore in the infor- 
mations that Sir Henry took you away on the Glan- 
mire road ? " 

'' I believe I did not/' 

'* Was there any interposition used with you to 
induce you to come into Court this morning ? " 

" No, there was not/' 

'^ Did any person describe the dress or person of Sir 
Henry Hayes to you before you came into Court ? '* 

" No, sir/' 

*' Will you now say, upon your oath, that if, at the 
time you came into Court and sat upon the table, you 
were asked the question, that you could have said 
positively you knew Sir Henry Hayes ? " 

" No, I could not ; because he might have been very 
much disguised/' 

The witnesses to other facts for the prosecution were 
Mr. and Miss Penrose, Dr. Gibbings, and Mr. Bichard 
Pike. When the case for the prosecution closed, Mr. 
Quin very ably addressed the jury on behalf of the 
prisoner. He laboured strongly to prove the in- 
sufficiency of the evidence under the statute of abduc- 
tion, and commented upon the quashing of the second 
indictment, showing the counsel for the prosecution 



The Munster CiraiiL 17S 

were unable to sustain it. There were no witnesses 
produced for the defence, but Mr. Curran replied. He 
said : " It is the undoubted privilege of the Crown to 
reply in all criminal cases, not duly to a point of law ; 
but, if the prisoner's counsel speak to evidence, the 
Crown is warranted to reply. I might by law have 
prevented such speaking altogether, but I will never 
oppose such indulgence to a prisoner. I feel myself 
bound to answer objections in point of law, as the 
evidence for the prosecution has not been controverted. 
Much has been said about that indictment which has 
been quashed ; the observations on that, as far as they 
go, are a complete answer to themselves. It is un- 
doubted law, that if a man be indicted as a principal, 
and acquitted, and afterwards indicted as an accessory 
before the fact, that the former acquittal is a conclusive 
plea in bar. The law is clearly settled in that case, 
and an acquittal upon the present indictment would be 
a complete bar to any prosecution upon the second ; 
therefore it was that the second indictment was quashed. 
We sent up that indictment, in fact, because we did 
not, with precise exactness, know how the evidence 
would turn out upon this trial. The second indictment 
was a mere charge of accessorial offence ; but feeling 
that, to bring forward the real merits of the case, we 
should go upon the first indictment, we thought it 
would be an act of unwarrantable vexation not to 
apprise the prisoner, the Court, and the jury that that 
was the only charge against him.'' He then argued as 
to the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain the charge 
of abduction. " What is a taking and carrying away ?" 
He showed how the prisoner visited at Mr. Penrose's 



I 



176 The Munster Circuit. 

house in order to be able to identify the prosecutrix, 
and the prisoner taking her in his arms from the foot 
of the hill at Mount Vernon. He distinguished the 
cases cited by Mr. Quin as having no bearing on this 
case. One was a burglary, the other murder. He 
distinguished the case of the King and Lipyard, in 
which a lady^s earring, though forced from her ear, 
was found in her curls, and there was held not a 
sufficient carrying away. But when a man in an inn 
stole the sheets off his bed and took them to a stable, 
where they were removed by an accomplice, the taking 
and carrying away was held complete. Miss Pike was 
taken by force out of the chaise ; she was taken by force 
up the avenue; she was taken by force into a room. 
Every fact, if the jury believed the evidence, was by 
force and against her consent. '* Let me remind the 
jury, that such an idea as this ought not to go abroad 
— ^that a gang may be hired by a man to force away a 
woman, and that that man, meeting her in the last 
stage of the transaction, shall completely commit a 
felony, against the statute, with impunity.'^ 

Judge Day then charged the jury very clearly. They 
retired to their room, and, after an hour^s deliberation, 
returned into Court with a verdict of guilty, but with a 
recommendation for mercy. The law points, taken by 
the prisoner's counsel to the insufficiency of the evidence 
to sustain the indictment, were referred to the twelve 
judges, who decided against the prisoner. The recom- 
mendation to mercy was attended to in procuring a 
commutation of sentence from death to exile, and the 
prisoner was transported. 



The Munster Circuit. 177 



CHAPTER XIII. 

The Murder of Colonel Hutchinson. — ^Conviction and Execution 

of the Murderers. 

About the commencement of the present century a 
terrible murder took place in the neighbourhood of 
Macroom, in the county of Cork. A house, built on a 
rising ground, with a well- wooded lawn in front, dotted 
by clumps of wide-spreading trees, was called Codrum 
House. It was then occupied by Colonel Hutchinson 
and his maidei\ sister. The gentleman, then advanced 
in years, had commanded a corps of volunteers in th^ 
patriot army of 1 782, and retained his military rank 
long after the corps he commanded had ceased to bear 
arms. He was much liked in the country, as a just and 
upright magistrate, a kind and considerate master, a 
fair and liberal employer. In the month of May, in 
the year 1800, Miss Hutchinson was aroused from 
sleep by hearing a smashing of glass, as if a window 
was broken in ; she then heard a noise, as of several 
men rushing into the h^use. Quit^e terrified, she re- 
mained in a state of alarm, until the sound of depart- 
ing footsteps informed her the ini;ruders had departed. 
She then ventured forth; there was the light of the 
summer morning illuminating the hall and stairs. At 
the foot of the stairs lay the body of a man. There 

N 



178 The Munster Circuit. 

was blood flowing from the side of the prostrate form ; 
sick at heart she descended the stairs and beheld the 
bloody corpse of her beloved brother, Colonel Hutchin- 
son. 

Her shrieks brought up a servant man, named Reen, 
who declared he had not heard any noise, as he was 
very deaf, and went at once to give the alarm. The 
place was soon filled with the neighbours, who were 
loud in the denunciations of this murderous deed. They 
found a large kitchen window broken open, and quite 
shattered. 

There was no more damage done to the house ; no 
articles were taken; the locks were uninjured; chests 
of drawers, desks, writing-cases— all were untouched. 
Neither money or goods were taken. 

An inquest was held on the body of Colonel Hut- 
chinson. A small hole was found near the heart, from 
which the life-blood oozed away. The blood saturated 
the clothes. There was no evidence to throw suspi- 
cion on any one in particular, so " Wilful murder by 
some person or persons unknown,'^ was the verdict of 
the coroner^s jury. Who had done the bloody deed ? 
The gentry of Muskerry were resolved never to rest 
until the question was fully and satisfactorily answered. 
An active corps of yeomanry, which comprised men of 
all ranks and creeds, left no stone unturned to hunt 
out the perpetrators of this d^^ed. Among them a Mr. 
McCarthy, who held the rank of sergeant in the corps, 
was one of the most active. 

Suspicion of knowing much of the melancholy fate 
of the murdered colonel attached to a man named 
Malachy Duggan, who resided in the neighbourhood of 



The Munster Circuit. 179 

Macroom. He was a man of dissolute habits, fond of 
drink, quarrelsome, and noted for a turbulent, riotous 
disposition. He was of more than ordinary strength 
and ferocity. His influence with the country people 
was very great, he was considered the head of the 
Whiteboys of the district, and Mr. McCarthy was posi- 
tive Duggan planned the attack on Codrum House, 
which led to the death of Colonel Hutchinson, 
Actuated by this belief, Mr. McCarthy proceeded to 
Duggan^s farm, and then and there arrested him for 
the murder. 

Duggan treated the charge as ridiculous, and made 
light of it. " It is no light matter,^^ said Mr. McCarthy; 
''and as you may have to remain in gaol for some 
time, better give some directions about your farm." 
This made Duggan alter his tone. " Do you think 
there is anything agin me, Mr. McCarthy ?^^ inquired 
Duggan eagerly. 

'' Plenty ,^^ said McCarthy, gaining confidence from 
the change in Duggan^s manner. He then prepared 
to accompany the patrol of yeomanry, and as there was 
some distance to Macroom from his farm, he mounted 
his horse to ride. Mr. McCarthy noticed he cut a 
willow rod as a riding switch when leaving his house, 
and, while brooding over what he had to undergo, he 
commenced unconsciously biting the wand. Some idea 
of the fretful mood of the man may be imagined from 
the fact that before Macroom loomed in sight Duggan 
had nibbled the wand into bits. 

The magistrate to whom Duggan was brought in- 
formed him that a sum of three hundred pounds was 
to reward any one who informed upon the murderers. 

If 2 



i8o The Munster Circuit, 

and contributed to prosecute them to conviction. This 
induced Duggan to oflFer such information as would 
convict the gang, of which, as Mr. McCarthy surmised, 
he was the leader. 

There were no less than fourteen engaged to rob 
Codrum House. They were brought to the place by 
Duggan. They broke in the kitchen window and got 
into the hall. It appeared that Colonel Hutchinson 
had not riBtired to rest, and, to the surprise of the 
gang, came down stairs on hearing the noise of their 
entrance. Unluckily one of the gang was his game- 
keeper, another McCarthy. " What ! ^' cried the 
colonel, "are you here, McCarthy ?^^ This sealed 
his fate. The gang saw they were recognized; 
Duggan gave the order : " McCarthy, do your duty." 
The fowling-piece, the property of Colonel Hutchin- 
son, in the hands of his servant, was the weapon which 
caused that gentleman^s death. When the colonel lay 
dead at the stair-foot, fear fell upon the gang ; they 
had not courage to proceed further, and they fled. 
No arrests were made until after Malachy Duggan was 
taken before the justice of the peace in Macroom, and 
gav.e his information. Then the gang dispersed. Some 
fled to the mountains of Kerry and to the rocks and 
precipices of Bere and Bantry; but six of the four- 
teen were captured and tried in Cork for the murder. 
Among those arrested were a brother of McCarthy 
the gamekeeper, and a cousin of Malachy Duggan. 

Conviction and Execution of the Murderers, 
During the trial the evidence of Malachy was corro- 
borated in several particulars. An ingenious effort 



The Munster Circuit. 1 8 1 

to discredit him was made by John Daggan, one of 
the prisoners. As Malachy swore that the killing was 
effected by the contents of the gun fired by the game- 
keeper, McCarthy, John Duggan said that was untrue ; 
that the colonel was killed by a blow from his 
hammer — ^he was a mason — ^and that it was with this 
same hammer the kitchen window was broken. The 
marks in the shutters of the window corresponded 
with the sharp end of John Duggan's hammer, and for 
the purpose of further testing his confession the body 
of Colonel Hutchinson was disinterred. The hole„ 
near the heart, might have been made by the sharp 
end of the stone hammer, but it was clear that he had 
been shot. The surgeon found several slugs lodged in 
the region of the heart. This bore out Malachy^s evi- 
dence j the prisoners were alL found guilty, sentenced 
to be hung in the square of Macroom, and their heads 
placed on spikes on the roof of the gaol, as a terror to 
evildoers. The fate of one of the condemned men 
created much sympathy, that of Callaghan McCarthy, 
the gamekeeper^s brother. He vehemently denied 
having had hand, act, or part in the murder, or the 
attack on Codrum House, and the peasantry believed 
his statement. It was supposed that Duggan swore 
against him, fearing that he would seek revenge for 
his informing against the gamekeeper. 

A singular event is related ^ as having taken place 
on the day of the execution. Mr. Madden says, 
'^They (the condemned men) were placed on horse- 
back, their persons being fastened. Biding up through 

* Fwie Madden's " Eevelations of Ireland," p. 260. 



1 82 The Munster Circuit, 

the streets of Macroom, an old woman threw herself in 
the way of the cavalcade^ before John Duggan^s horse, 
and cried ont in Irish, ' John Duggan, John Duggan ! 
you owe me sixpence!' The culprit, who looked 
more dead than alive, contrived, though his arms were 
pinioned, with his fingers to jerk out of his pocket a 
sixpenny-piece to the old woman. When she was 
asked 'Why she tormented Duggan at that time?* 
she replied, ' Troth, then, shure I wouldn't be afther 
letting it rest upon his sowl/ '' 

One circumstance was regarded as enhancing the 
terrible severity of the sentence upon the six men 
hanged in the square of Macroom. No minister of 
religion accompanied them to the gallows. This was 
done on purpose ; they had, indeed, received the 
ministrations of the priests while in Cork gaol, and 
they accompanied them part of their sad journey, but 
when about half-way were required to return to Cork. 

The execution was largely attended, and when all 
were dead the hangman severed the heads from the 
bodies, and put them on the spikes, where they 
remained for many years. 

It might be supposed that the execution of these 
six men would have been deemed sufficient vindication 
of the outraged law on account of this crime, but it 
was not so. The rest of the gang were eagerly sought 
for, McCarthy the gamekeeper especially; and at 
length he and some others were taken. They were 
tried, convicted, and executed. Mr. Madden says,* 
'^ Their heads were also set on spikes, and in order to 

' Tide Madden's " Revelations of Ireland," p. 260. 



The Mtmster Circuit, 183 

mark the gamekeeper, McCarthy, with signal posthu- 
mous infamy, it was resolved to affix his right hand 
with his skull, in order that all men might know, even 
after death, the head of the gamekeeper who shot his 
master." 

Reen, the servant who aflFected to be deaf, was 
transported, on the ground of his having a guilty 
knowledge of the meditated attack. The evidence 
against him was not very strong, but his deafness was 
thought a mere pretence. 

Another of the gang was captured near Blarney. 
He, too, was tried at the Cork Assizes, found guilty, 
and suffered death. Thus, of the fourteen engaged in 
the attack on Codrum House, nine suffered death, two, 
Malachy Duggan and his son, turned informers, and 
the rest escaped to America. 



184 The Munster Circuit, 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Immorality rebuked. — Case of the Eev. Charles Massey 

against the Marqnis of Headfort. 

Op the great cases which occupied public attention 
upon the Munster Circuit, and which enlisted the 
greatest interest from the rank and position of the 
litigating parties, and produced the greatest displays 
of forensic eloquence, none exceeds, and few equal, 
that of the Rev. Charles Massey against the 
Marquis of Headfort. This case was brought for 
criminal conversation by the defendant with the 
plaintiff's wife, and was tried at the Ennis Summer 
Assizes, held on the 27th pf July, 1804, before Baron 
Sir William Smith. The plaintiff was the second son 
of Sir Hugh Massey, Bart. He was a clergyman, and 
held several benefices. In 1797 he married, contrary 
to the wishes of his father, a lady of great personal 
beauty, named Eoslewin. By this union the plaintiff 
became the father of an only child, a son. While re- 
siding in 1803 at Donass, on the Clare side of the 
majestic Shannon, a few miles from the city of 
Limerick, the Marquis' of Headfort was then quartered 
in Limerick with his regiment. The marquis occupied 
the town mansion of the Earl of Limerick. When the 
Rev. Mr. Massey had been doing clerical duty as rector 



TJie Munster Circuit. 185 

in the county of Meath, where the marquis held large 
estates^ the plaintiff became acquainted with the Head- 
fort family. So when Mrs. Massey made the acquaint- 
ance of the marquis in Limerick, her husband naturally 
invited him to visit at Donass. Mrs. Massey was a 
very young lady, fond of gaiety, while Lord Headfort 
was half a century old. The consequence of their in- 
timacy was, that on a Sabbath-day, after the Christmas 
of 1803, while the Eev. Mr. Massey was officiating in 
the church, his wife eloped with the marquis. This 
was the cause of action. The damages were laid at 
the high figure of 40,000i. 

The trial, of course, created great local, and indeed 
general, interest. It was rumoured the most eminent 
counsel in Ireland were engaged on both sides, and 
this was fully borne out when there appeared for the 
plaintiff the Right Hon. J. P. Curran, Bartholomew 
Hoare, Hiirry Deane Grady, Thomas Carey, John 
White, Amory Hawkesworth, William O'Regan, 
Thomas Lloyd, William McMahon, and George Bennett, 
instructed by Mr. Anthony Hogan ; and for the noble 
defendant the Right Hon. George Ponsonby, Thomas 
Quin, Thomas Goold, John Pranks, Charles Burton, 
and Richard Pennefather, instructed by Mr. Simms. 
I have already given my reader sketches of many of 
these eminent members of the Irish Bar, who were 
also members of the Munster Circuit ; but as the lead- 
ing counsel for the defendant, Mr. George Ponsonby, 
was brought down special, it requires that some short 
sketch should be given of him, in order that our readers 
should know what his claim was to entitle him to that 
distinction, especially when such men as Quin, Goold, 



i86 The Munsier Circuit. 

Barton, and Pennefather \viere serving under him. He 
was son of the Eight Hon. John Ponsonby, Speaker 
of the Irish House of Commons. George Ponsonby 
was called to the bar in 1780, but preferred the life 
of a country gentleman and member of Parliament to 
the drudgery of the Courts, until his marriage with 
Lady Mary Butler, eldest daughter of the Earl of 
Lanesborough. He was appointed Commissioner of 
Revenue, with a salary of 1200Z. a year, but changes 
of Government having caused the loss of his office, he 
applied himself to his profession, and became a very 
eminent Chancery lawyer. When FitzGibbon, in 1789, 
was elevated to the woolsack, he presented his bag to 
Mr. Ponsonby, thereby giving an intimation to the soli- 
citors who were in the habit of sending him briefs, he 
wished them in future to be sent to Mr. Ponsonby. He 
did not practise very much in nisi prius cases, and it 
was, probably, owing to his aristocratic connexions, that 
induced the agent for the Marquis of Headfort to bring 
him down as special counsel to the Munster Circuit.^ 

Mr. Bennett having opened the pleadings, Mr. 
Hoare stated the case. This, of course, was in order 
that Curran might reply to the speech of Mr. George 
Ponsonby, In opening the case Mr. Hoare described 
the defendant as "a hoary veteran, in whom, like 
Etna, the snows above did not quench the flamefi 
below." His address was strong, vigorous, and im- 

1 His subsequent career was very distinguished. In the 
Ministry of Fox and Grenville he became Lord Chancellor of 
Ireland, and, after the death of Fox, became leader of the Oppo- 
sition in the House of Commons. He died in London, in 
1817. 



The Munster Circuit, 187 

pressive, I cannot venture to transcribe it at great 
length, but one passage must not be omitted : — 

" The noble lord proceeded to the completion of his 
diabolical project, not with the precipitancy of youth, 
but with the most cool and deliberate consideration. The 
Cornish plunderer, intent on spoil, callous to every touch 
of humanity, shrouded in darkness, holds out false lights 
to the tempest- tossed vessel, and lures her and her pilot 
to that shore upon which she must be lost for ever. The 
rock unseen, the ruffian invisible, and nothing apparent 
but the treacherous signal of security and repose ; so this 
prop of the Crown, this pillar of the State, this stay of 
religion, this ornament of the peerage, this common 
protector of the people^s privileges, and of the Crown^s 
prerogatives, descends from these high grounds of 
character to muffle himself in the gloom of his own 
base and dark designs, to play before the eyes of the 
deluded wife, and the deceived husband, the falsest 
lights of love to the one, and of friendly and hospitable 
regards to the other, until she is at length dashed 
upon that hard Bbsom where her honour and happiness 
are lost for ever. The agonized husband beholds the 
ruin with those sensations of misery and of horror 
which you can better feel than I describe. She, upon 
whom he had embarked all his hope, and all his 
happiness in this life, the treasure of all his earthly 
felicities, the rich fund of all his hoarded joys, sunk 
before his eyes into an abyss of infamy, or, if any 
fragment escape, escaping to solace, to gratify, to en- 
rich her vile destroyer." 

His speech, which occupied some time in delivery, 
was much admired. The usual proofs were then given 



1 88 The Munster Circuit. 

— the fact of marriage, the happy union in which both 
hasband and wife lived, her elopement, and her living 
with the Marquis of Headfort, and the amount of his 
fortune — estimated at 30,000Z. a-year. 

The plaintiff's case having closed with those proofs, 
Mr. Quin addressed the jury on the part of the defen- 
dant. He did not attempt to deny the fact of the 
elopement, but insisted strongly upon the levity and 
giddiness of Mrs. Massey, and stated her character 
was so light that it was gross folly, or worse, in the 
plaintiff to throw her in the way of the noble defendant. 
In sustainment of his description of the wife of the 
plaintiff, the defendant called as witnesses Colonel Pep- 
per, Captain Charleton, and Mr. George Evans Bruce.' 

Various acts of levity were deposed to by those wit- 
nesses, which caused them to be roughly handled in 
cross-examination. The defendant's' special counsel, 
Mr. Ponsonby, then proceeded to address the jury. 
He took very much the same course as Mr. Quin, 
pressing strongly upon the jury the worthlessness of 
the wretched woman, for whose loss the plaintiff de- 
manded the preposterous sum of 40,000Z., and insisted 
that the conduct of the plaintiff in inviting the marquis 
to his house disentitled him to compensation, having 
connived at what occurred, Mr. Ponsonby's speech 
was more characterized by his skill as an advocate 
than his power as an orator ; but Curran, who felt this 
a case demanding his best efforts, delivered the follow- 
ing magnificent speech :— 

" Gentlemen of the jury, — ^Never so clearly as in the 

2 This is the individual who, in 1816, brought an action for 
libel against Mr. Thomas Grady, which shall appear in due time. 



The Munster Circuit, ^89 

present instance, have I observed that safeguard of 
justice which Providence has placed in the nature of 
man. Such is the imperious dominion with which 
truth and reason wave their sceptres over the human 
intellect, that no solicitation, however artful, no talent, 
however commanding, can seduce it from its allegiance. 
In proportion to the humility of our submission to its 
rule do we rise with some faint emulation of that in- 
effable and presiding divinity, whose characteristic 
attribute it is to be coerced and bound by the inexor- 
able laws of its own nature, so as to be all-wise and 
all-just from necessity rather than election. You have 
seen it in the learned advocate (Mr. Ponsonby) who 
has preceded me, most peculiarly and strikingly illus- 
trated. You have seen even his great talents, perhaps 
the first in any country, languishing under a cause too 
weak to carry *him, and too heavy to be carried by 
him. He was forced to dismiss his natural candour 
and sincerity, and, having no merits in his case, to 
substitute the dignity of his own manner, the resources 
of his own ingenuity, against the overwhelming diffi- 
culties by which he was surrounded. Wretched 
client — unhappy advocate ! what a combination do you 
form ! But such is the condition of guilt — ^its com- 
mission mean and tremulous, its defence artificial and 
insincere, its prosecution candid and simple, its con- 
demnation dignified and austere. Such has been the 
defendant's guilt, such his defence, such shall be my 
address, and such, I trust, your verdict. 

''The learned counsel has toldyou that this unfor- 
tunate woman is not to be estimated at 40,000i. 
Fatal and unquestionable is the truth of this assertion. 



igo The Munster Circuit, 

Alas ! gentlemen, she is no longer worth anything^ 
faded, degraded, and disgraced, she is worth less than 
nothing ! But it is for the honour, the hope, the ex- 
pectation, the tenderness, and the comforts that have 
been blasted by the defendant, and have fled for ever> 
that you are to remunerate the plaintiff by the punish- 
ment of the defendant. It is not her present value 
which you are to weigh, but it is her value at that 
time when she sat basking in a husband^s love, with the 
blessing of Heaven on her head, and its purity in her 
heart— when she sat amongst her family and adminis- 
tered the moraUty of the parental board. Estimate 
that past value, compare it with its present deplorable 
diminution, and it may lead you to form some judg- 
ment of the severity of the injury, and the requisite 
extent of the compensation. The learned counsel has 
told you, you ought to be cautious, because your verdict 
cannot be set aside for excess. The assertion is just ; 
but has he treated you fairly by its application ? His 
cause would not allow him to be fair : for, why is the 
rule adopted in this single action ? Because this being 
peculiarly an injury to the most susceptible of all 
human feelings, it leaves the injury of the husband to 
be ascertained by the sensibility of the jury, and does 
not presume to measure the justice of their determina- 
tion by the cold and chill exercise of his own discretion. 
In any other action it is easy to calculate. If a trades- 
man's arm is cut off you can measure the loss which 
he has sustained ; but the wound of feeling, and the 
agony of the heart, cannot be judged by any standard 
with which I am acquainted. And you are unfairly 
dealt with when you are called on to appreciate the 



The Munster Circuit 191 

present suffering of the husband by the present guilt, 
delinquency, and degradation of the wife. As well 
might you, if called upon to give a compensation to a 
man for the murder of his dearest friend, find the 
measure of his injury by weighing the ashes of the 
dead. But it is not, gentlemen of the jury, by weigh- 
ing the ashes of the dead that you would estimate the 
loss of the survivor. 

''The learned counsel has referred you to other 
cases, and other countries, for instances of moderate 
verdicts j I can refer you to some authentic instances 
of just ones. In the next county, 15,000Z. against a 
subaltern officer. In Travers v. McCarthy, 5000Z. 
against a servant. In Tighe v. Jones, 10,000?. against 
a man not worth a shilling. What, then, ought to be 
the rule where rank and wealth and station have com- 
bined to render the example of his crime more 
dangerous, to make his guilt more odious, to make 
the injury to the plaintiff more grievous, because more 
conspicuous ? I affect no levelling familiarity when I 
speak of persons of higher ranks of society. Distinc- 
tions of orders are necessary, and I always feel disposed 
to treat them with respect; but when it is my duty to 
speak of the crimes by which they are degraded, I am 
not so fastidious as to shrink from their contact when 
to touch them is essential to their dissection. In this 
action, the condition, the conduct, and the circumstances 
of the parties are justly and particularly the object of 
your consideration. 

'' Who are the parties ? The plaintiff, young, 
amiable, of family and education. Of the generous 
disinterestedness of his heart you can form an opinion 



192 The Munsier Circuit. 

even from the evidence of tte defendant^ that he 
declined an alliance which would have added to his 
fortune and consideration, and which he rejected for 
an unportioned union with his present wife. She, 
too, at that time was young, beautiful, and accom- 
plished ; and felt her affection for her husband increase 
in proportion as she remembered the ardour of his 
love, and the sincerity of his sacrifice. Look nov!:, at 
the defendant ! I blush to name him ! I blush to 
name a rank which he has tarnished, and a patent 
which he has worse than cancelled. High in the army 
— high in the State — the hereditary counsellor of the 
King — of wealth incalculable ; and to this last I advert 
with an indignant and contemptuous satisfaction, be- 
cause, as the only instrument of his guilt and shame, 
it will be the means of his punishment, and the source 
of compensation for his guilt. 

''But let me call your attention distinctly to the 
questions you have to consider. The first is the fact 
of guilt. Is this noble lord guilty? His counsel 
knew too well how they would have mortified his 
vanity had they given the smallest reason to doubt the 
splendour of his achievement. Against any such 
humiliating suspicion he had taken the most studious 
precaution by the publicity of the exploit. And here, 
in this Court, and before you, and in the face of the 
country, he has the unparalleled effrontery of disdain- 
ing to resort to even a profession of innocence. His 
guilt established, the next question is the damages 
you should give. You have been told that the amount 
of damages should depend on circumstances. You 
will consider these circumstances, whether of aggrava- 



The Munster Circuit. 193 

tion or mitigation. His learned counsel contend that 
the plaintiff has been the author of his own sufferings 
and ought to receive no compensation for the ill in 
consequence of his own conduct. In what part of the 
evidence do you find any foundation for that assertion ? 
He indulged her, it seems, in dress ; generous and 
attached, he probably indulged her in that point be- 
yond his means; and the defendant now impudently 
calls on you to find one excuse for the adulterer in the 
fondness and liberality of the husband. 

'' But you have been told that the husband connived. 
Odious and impudent aggravation of injury, to add 
calumny to insult, and outrage to dishonour. From 
whom, but from a man hackneyed in the ways of 
shame and vice — ^from whom, but from a man having 
no compunction in his own breast to restrain him, 
could you expect such brutal disregard for the feel- 
ings of others ? — from whom, but from the cold- 
blooded veteran seducer? — from what, but the ex- 
hausted mind, the habitual community with shame ? 
from what; but the habitual contempt of virtue and of 
man, could you have expected the arrogance, the bar- 
barity, the folly, of so foul, because so false, an im- 
putation ? He should have reflected, and have blushed, 
before he suffered so vile a topic of defence to have 
passed his lips. But ere you condemn him let him 
have the benefit of the excuse, if the excuse be true. 

^' You must have observed how his counsel fluttered 
and vibrated between what they call connivance and 
injudicious confidence, and how in affecting to dis- 
tinguish they have confounded them both together. 
If the plaintiff has connived, I freely say to you, do 





194 The Munster Circuit. 

not reward the wretch who has prostituted his wife, 
and surrendered his own honour — do not compensate 
the pander of his own shame, and the willing instru- 
ment of his own infamy. But as there is no sum so 
low to which that defence, if true, ought not the reduce 
your verdict, so neither is there any so high to which 
such a charge ought not to inflame it if the charge be 
false. Where is the single fact in this case on which 
the remotest suspicion of connivance can be brought ? 
Obviously has the defendant endeavoured to make the 
softest and most amiable feelings of the heart the 
pretext of his slanderous imputations. An ancient 
and respectable prelate, the husband of his wife's 
sister, is chained to the bed of sickness, perhaps the 
bed of death. In that distressing situation my client 
suflfered his wife to be the bearer of consolation to the 
bosom of her sister. He had not the heart to refuse 
her^ and the softness of his nature is now charged on 
him as a crime. He is now insolently told that he 
connived at his dishonour, and that he ought to have 
foreseen that the mansion of sickness and sorrow 
would have been made the scene of assignation and of 
guilt. On this charge of connivance I will not further 
weary you, or exhaust myself. I will add nothing 
more than that it is as false as it is impudent, that ia 
the evidence it has not a colour of support, and that 
by your verdict you should mark it with reprobation. 
The other subject, namely, that he was indiscreet in 
his confidence, does, I think, call for some discussion : 
for I trust you see that I affect not any address to 
your passions, by which you may be led away from the 
subject. I presume merely to separate the parts of 



The Munster Circuit. 195 

this affecting case^ and to lay them item by item before 
you, with coldness of detail, and not with any colouring 
or display of fiction or of fancy. Honourable to him- 
self was his unsuspecting confidence, but fatal must 
we admit it to have been when we look to the abuse 
committed upon it. But where is the guilt of this in- 
discretion ? He did admit this noble lord to pass his 
threshold as his guest. Now, the charge which this 
noble lord builds on this indiscretion is : ' Thou fool ! 
thou hadst confidence in my honour, and that was a 
guilty indiscretion. Thou simpleton ! thou thoughtest 
that an admitted and cherished guest would have re* 
spected the laws of honour and hospitality, and thy 
indiscretion was guilt.' 

'^Gentlemen, what horrid alternative in the treat- 
ment of wives would such reasoning recommend ? Are 
they to be immured by worse than Eastern barbarity ? 
Are their principles to be depraved, their passions 
sublimated, every finer motive of action extinguished, 
by the inevitable consequences of thus treating them 
like slaves 7 Or is a liberal and generous confidence 
in them to be the passport of the adulterer^ and the 
justification of his crimes? Honourably, but fatally 
for his own repose, he was neither jealous, suspicious, 
nor cruel. He treated the defendant with the confi- 
dence of a friend, and his wife with the tenderness of 
a husband. He did leave to the noble marquis the 
physical possibility of committing against him the 
greatest crime that can be perpetrated against a being 
of an amiable heart and refined education. In the 
middle of the day, at the moment of divine worship, 
when the miserable husband was on his knees, directing 

o 2 



196 The Munster Circuit 

the prayers and thanksgiving of his congregation to 
their God, that moment did the remorseless adulterer 
choose to carry oflF the deluded victim from her husband, 
from her child, from her character, from her happiness, 
as if not content to have his crime confined to its 
miserable aggravation, unless he gave it a cast and 
colour of fictitious sacrilege and impiety. Oh ! how 
happy had it been, when he arrived at the bank of 
the river with the ill-fated fugitive, ere yet he had 
committed her to that boat, of which, like the fabled 
bark of Styx, the exile was eternal — how happy at 
that moment, so teeming with misery and shame, if 
you, my lord, had met him, and could have accosted 
him in the character of that good genius which had 
abandoned him, how impressively might you have 
pleaded the cause of the father, of the child, of the 
mother, and even of the worthless defendant himself. 
You would have said, 'Is this the requital you are 
about to make for respect and kindness and confidence 
in your honour? Can you deliberately expose this 
young man, in the bloom of life, with all his hopes 
before him — can you expose him, a wretched outcast 
from society, to the scorn of a merciless world ? Gan 
you set him adrift upon the tempestuous ocean of 
his own passions at this early season, when they are 
most headstrong ? and can you cut him out from the 
moorings of those domestic obligations by whose cable 
he might ride at safety from their turbulence ? Think 
of, if you can conceive it, what a powerful influence 
arises from the sense of home, from the sacred religion 
of the heart in quelling the passions, in reclaiming 
the wanderings, in correcting the discords of the 



The Munster Circuit, 197 

human heart. Do not cruelly take from him the pro- 
tection of these attachments. But if you have no pity 
for the father, have mercy at least upon his innocent 
and helpless child. Do not condemn him to an educa- 
tion scandalous or neglected. Do not strike him 
with that most dreadful of all human conditions, the 
orphanage that springs not from the grave, that 
falls not from the hand of Providence, or from the 
stroke of death ; but comes before its time, antici- 
pated and inflicted by the remorseless cruelty of 
parental guilt.' 

''For the poor victim herself, not yet immolated, 
while yet balancing upon the pivot of her destiny, 
your heart could not be cold, nor your tongue be 
wordless. You would have said to him, ' Pause, my 
lord, while there is yet a moment of reflection. What 
are your motives, what your views, what your pros- 
pects from what you are about to do ? Tou are a 
married man, the husband of the most amiable and 
respectable of women ; you cannot look to the chance 
of marrying this wretched fugitive— between you and 
that event there are two sepulchres to pass. What 
are your inducements? Is it love, think you? No, 
do not giv^ that name to any attraction you can find 
in the faded refuse of a violated bed. Love is a noble 
and generous passion. It can be founded only on ct. 
pure and ardent friendship, on an exalted respect, on 
an implicit confidence in its object. Search your heart, 
examine your judgment. Do you find the semblance 
of any one of these sentiments to bind you to her ? 
What could degrade a mind to which nature or educa- 
tion had given post, or stature, or character into a 



198 The Munster Circuit, 

friendship for her ? Could you repose upon her faith ? 
Look in her face, my lord. She is, at this moment, 
giving you the violation of the most saxjred of human 
obligations as the pledge of her fidelity. She is giving 
you the most irrefragable proof that she is deserting 
her husband for you ; so she would, without a scruple, 
abandon you for another. Do you anticipate any 
pleasure you might feel in the possible event of your 
becoming the parents of a common child ? She is, at 
this moment, proving to you that she is dead to the 
sense of parental, as of conjugal obligation, and that 
she would abandon your offspring to-morrow with the 
same facility with which she now deserted her own. 
Look, then, at her conduct, as it is, as the world must 
behold it, blackened by every aggravation that can 
make it either odious or contemptible, and unrelieved 
by a single circumstance of mitigation that could palliate 
its guilt, or retrieve it from abhorrence. 

'' ' Mean, however, and degraded as this woman must 
be, she will still (if you take her with you) have strong 
and heavy claims upon you. The force of these claims 
does, certainly, depend upon circumstances; before, 
therefore, you expose her fate to the dreadful risk of 
your caprice or ingratitude, in mercy to her, weigh 
well the confidence she can place in your future justice 
and honour at that future time, much nearer than you 
think; by what topics can her cause be pleaded to a 
sated appetite, to a heart that repels her, to a just 
judgment in which she never could have been valued 
or respected ? Hers is not the case of an unmarried 
woman, with whom a pure and generous friendship 
may insensibly have ripened into a more serious at- 



The Munster Circuit. 199 

t&chment^ until at last her heart became too deeply 
pledged to be reassumed. If so circumstanced, with- 
out any husband to betray, or child to desert, or motive 
to restrain, except what related solely to herself, her 
anxiety for your happiness made her overlook every 
other consideration, and commit her history to your 
honour. In such a case, the strongest and the highest 
that man's imagination can snggest, in which you at 
least could see nothing but the most noble and disin- 
terested sacrifice, in which you could find nothing but 
what claimed from you the most kind and exalted sen- 
timent of tenderness, and devotion, and respect, and 
in which the most fastidious rigour would find so 
much more subject for sympathy than blame, let me * 
ask you, could you, even in that case, answer for your 
justice and gratitude? I do not allude to the long 
and pitiful catalogue of paltry adventures in which it 
seems your time has been employed — ^the coarse and 
vulgar succession of casual connexion, joyless, loveless, 
and unendearedj but do you not find upon your 
memory some traces of an engagement of the character 
I have sketched ? Has not your sense of what you 
would owe in such a case, and to such a woman, been 
at least once put to the test of experiment ? Has it 
not once at least happened that such a woman, with 
all the resolution of strong faith, flung her youth, her 
hope, her beauty, her talent, upon your bosom, weighed 
you against the world, which she found but a feather 
in the scale, and took you as an equivalent ? How 
did you then acquit yourself ? Did you prove yourself 
worthy of the sacred trust reposed in you ? Did your 
spirit so associate with hers as to leave her no room 



200 The Munster Circuit, 

to regret the splendid and disinterested sacrifice she 
had made ? Did her soul find a pillow in the tender- 
ness of yours, and support in its firmness ? Did you 
preserve her high in her own consciousness, proud in 
your admiration and friendship, and happy in your 
afiection? You might have so acted; and the man 
that was worthy of her would have perished rather 
than not so act as to make her delighted with having 
confided so sacred a trust to his honour. Did you 
so act ? Did she feel that, however precious to your 
heart, she was still more exalted and honoured in your 
reverence and respect? Or did she find you coarse 
and paltry, fluttering and unpurposed, unfeeling and 
ungrateful? You found her a fair and blushing 
flower, its beauty and its fragrance bathed in the 
dew of heaven — did you so tenderly transplant it as to 
preserve that beauty and that fragrance unimpaired ? 
Or did you so rudely cut it as to intercept its nutri- 
ment, to waste its sweetness, to blast its beauty, to 
bow its faded and sickly head ? And did you at last 
fling it, like a loathsome weed, away ? If, then, 
to such a woman, so clothed with every title that 
could ennoble and exalt, and endear her to the heart 
of man, you would be cruelly and capriciously deficient, 
how can a wretched fugitive like this, in every point 
her contrast, hope to find you just ? Send her, then, 
away — send her back to her home, to her child, to 
her husband, to herself/ 

^^ Alas ! there was no one to hold such language to 
the noble defendant. He did not hold it to himself; 
but he paraded his despicable prize in his own carriage, 
with his own retinue, his own servants — this veteran 



The Munster Circuit. 201 

Paris hawked bis enamoured Helen from fche western 
quarter of the island to a seaport in the eastern, 
crowned with the acclamations of a senseless and 
grinning rabble, glorying and delighted, no doubt, in 
the leering and scoffing admiration of grooms, and 
ostlers, and waiters, as he passed. 

" In this odious contempt of every personal feeling, 
of public opinion, of common humanity, did he parade 
this woman to the seaport, whence he transported his 
precions cargo to a country where her example may 
be less mischievous than in her own, where I agree 
with my learned colleague in heartily wishing he may 
remain with her for ever. We are too poor, too 
simple, too unadvanced a country for the example of 
such achievements. Where the relaxation of morals 
is the natural growth and consequence of the great 
progress of arts and wealth, it is accompanied by a 
refinement that makes it less gross than shocking; 
but for such palliations we are a century too young. 
I advise you, therefore, most earnestly to rebuke this 
budding mischief, by letting the wholesome vigour 
and chastisement of a liberal verdict speak what you 
think of its enormity. In every point of view in which 
I can look at the subject, I see you axe called upon to 
give a bold, and just, and indignant and exemplary 
compensation. The injury of the plaintiff demands 
it from your justice, the delinquency of the defendant 
provokes it by its enormity. The rank on which he 
has relied for impunity calls upon you to tell him that 
cnme does not ascend to the rank of the perpetrator, 
but the perpetrator sinks from his rank, and descends 
to the level of his delinquency. The style and mode 



202 The Munster Circuit. 

of the defence is a gross aggravation of his conduct, 
and a gross insult upon you. 

''Look upon the different subjects of his defence 
as you ought, and let him profit by them as he de- 
serves. Vainly presumptuous upon his rank, he wishes 
to overawe you by that despicable consideration. He 
next resorts to a cruel aspersion upon the character of 
the unhappy plaintiff, whom he had already wounded 
beyond the possibility of reparation. He has ventured 
to charge him with connivance. As to that I will only 
say* gentlemen of the jury, do not give this vain boaster 
a pretext for saying, that if the husband connived in 
the offence, the jury also connived in the reparation. 

''But he has pressed another curious topic upon 
you. After the plaintiff had cause to suspect his de- 
signs, and the likelihood of their being fatally success- 
ful, he did hot then act precisely as he ought. Gracious 
God ! what an argument for him to dare to advance. 
It is saying this to him : ' I abused your confidence, 
your hospitality — I laid a base plan for the seduction 
of your wife — I succeeded at last so as to throw in 
upon you that most dreadful of all suspicions to a 
man fondly attached, proud of his wife's honour, and 
tremblingly alive to his own, that you were possibly a 
dupe to the confidence in the wife as much as in the 
guest. In this so pitiable distress, which I myself 
had studiously and deliberately contrived for you, be- 
tween hope and fear, and doubt and love, and jealousy 
and shame— one moment shrinking from the cruelty 
of your suspicion, the next fired with indignation at 
the facility and credulity of your acquittal— in this 
labyrinth of doubt, in this frenzy of suffering, you 



714^ Munster Circuit. 203 

were not collected and composed ; you did not act as 
you might have done, if I had not worked you to 
madness, and upon that very madness which I have 
inflicted upon you, upon the very completion of my 
guilt, and of your misery, I will build my defence. 
You will not act critically right, and therefore are 
unworthy of compensation/ '' 

Having dwelt somewhat more on this topic, and 
showed how little there was in the evidence to sustain 
the allegation of connivance, Mr. Curran continued : — 

'^ There is another ground on which you are called 
on to give most liberal damages, and that has been 
laid by the unfeeling vanity of the defendant. This 
business has been marked by the most elaborate pub- 
licity. It is very clear he has been allured by the 
glory of the chase, aud not the value of the game. 
The poor object of his pursuit could be of no value 
to him, or he could not have so wantonly and cruelly 
and unnecessarily abused her. He might have kept 
this unhappy intercourse an unsuspected secret. Even 
if he wished for elopement he might easily have so 
contrived it that the place of her retreat would be 
profoundly undiscoverable. 

'' Yet, though even the expense, a point so tender 
to his delicate sensibility, of concealing could not be 
one-fortieth of the cost of publishing her, his vanity 
decided him in favour of glory and publicity. By 
that election he has, in fact, put forward the Irish 
nation, and its character, so often and so variously 
calumniated, upon its trial before the tribunal of the 
empire, and your verdict will this day decide whether 
an Irish jury can feel with justice and spirit upon a 



204 The Munster Circuit. 

subject that involves conjugal affection and comfort, 
domestic honour and repose, the certainty of issue, the 
weight of public opinion, the gilded and presumptuous 
criminality of overweening rank and station. I doubt 
not but he is, at this moment, reclining on a silken 
sofa anticipating that submissive and modest verdict 
by which you will lean gently on his errors, and ex- 
pecting from your patriotism, no doubt, that you will 
think again and again, before you condemn any great 
portion of the immense revenue of a great absentee to 
be retained in the nation that produced it, instead of 
being transmitted, as it ought, to be expended in the 
splendour of another country. He is now, probably, 
waiting for the arrival of the report of this day, which, 
I understand, a famous note-taker has been sent hither 
to collect. Let not the gentleman be disturbed. 

'^ Gentlemen, let me assure you it is more, much 
more, the trial of you than of the noble marquis, of 
which this important recorder is, at this moment, col- 
looting materials. His noble employer is now expect- 
ing a report to the following effect : ' Such a day came 
on to be tried at Ennis, by a special jury, the cause of 
Charles Massey against the most Noble the Marquis of 
Headfort. It appeared that the plaintiff's wife was 
young, beautiful, and captivating ; the plaintiff himself 
a person fond of this beautiful creature to distraction, 
and both doting on their child. But the noble marquis 
approached her, the plume of glory nodded on his head. 
Not the goddess Minerva, but the goddess Venus, had 
lighted up his casque with "the fire that never tires," 
such as many a lady gay had been dazzled with before. 
At the first advance she trembled ; at the second she 



The Munster Circuit 205 

struck to the redoubted son of Mars and pupil of 
Venus. The jury saw it was not his fault (it was an 
Irish jury) ; they felt compassion for the tenderness of 
the mother's heart, and for the warmth of the lover's 
passion. The jury saw on one side a young, entertain- 
ing gallant; on the other a beauteous creature, of 
charms irresistible. They recollected that Jupiter had 
been always successful in his amours, although Vulcan 
had not always escaped some awkward accidents. The 
jury was composed of fathers, brothers, husbands, but 
they had not the vulgar jealousy that views little things 
of that sort with rigour, and wishing to assimilate 
their country in every respect to England, now that 
they are united to it, they, like English gentlemen, 
returned to their box with a verdict of 6d. damages, 
and 6cZ. costs.' 

" Let this be sent to England. I promise you your 
odious secret will not be kept better than that of the 
wretched Mrs. Massey. There is not a bawdy 
chronicle in London in which the epitaph which you 
would have written on yourselves will not be published, 
and our enemies will delight in the spectacle of our 
precocious guilt, in seeing that we can be rotten before 
we are ripe. I do not suppose it. I do not, cannot, 
will not believe it. I will not harrow up myself with 
the anticipated apprehension. There is another con- 
sideration, gentlemen, which I think most imperiously 
demands even a vindictive reward of exemplary 
damages, and that is, the breach of hospitality. 

"To us peculiarly does it belong to avenge the 
violation of its altar. The hospitality of other coun- 
tries is a matter of necessity or convention. In savage 



2o6 The Munster Circuit 

nations, of the first ; in polished, of the latter. But 
the hospitality of an Irishman is not the running 
account of listed and legered courtesies, as in other 
countries ; it springs, like all his qualities — ^his faults, 
his virtues — directly from his heart. The heart of an 
Irishman is, by nature, bold, and he confides; it is 
tender, and he loves ; it is generous, and he gives ; it 
is social, and he is hospitable. This sacrilegious in- 
truder has profaned the religion of that sacred altar, 
so elevated in our worship, so precious to our devotion, 
and it is our privilege to avenge the crime. You must 
either pull down the altar, and abolish the worship, or 
you must preserve its sanctity undebased. There is 
no alternative between the complete exclusion of all 
mankind from your threshold, and the most rigorous 
punishment of him who is admitted and betrays. This 
defendant has been so trusted, has so betrayed, and 
you ought to make him a most signal example. Gentle- 
men, I am the more disposed to feel the strongest 
indignation and abhorrence at this odious conduct of 
the defendant when I consider the deplorable condition 
to which he has reduced the plaintifiT, and perhaps the 
still more deplorable one that the plaintiff has in pro- 
spect before him. What a progress has he to travel 
through before he can attain the peace and tranquil- 
lity which he has lost ! How like the wounds of the 
body are those of the mind ! How burning the fever 1 
How painful the suppuration ! How slow, how hesi- 
tating, how relapsing the progress to convalescence ! 
Through what a variety of suffering, what new 
scenes and changes must my unhappy client pass 
ere he can reattain, should he ever reattain, that 



The Munster Circuit. 207 

health of soul of which he has been despoiled by 
the cold and deliberate machinations of this practised 
and gilded seducer. If, instead of drawing upon his 
incalculable wealth for a scanty retribution, you were 
to stop the progress of his despicable achievements by 
reducing him to actual poverty, you could not even so 
punish him beyond the scope of his offence, nor reprise 
the plaintiff beyond the measure of his suffering. Let me 
remind you that in this action the law not only empowers 
you, but that its policy commands you, to consider the 
public example as well as the individual injury when 
you adjust the amount of your verdict. I confess I 
am most anxious that you should acquit yourselves 
worthily upon this important occasion. I am address- 
ing you as fathers, husbands, brothers. I am anxious 
that a feeling of these high relations should enter into, 
and give dignity to your verdict. 

"But I confess I feel a tenfold solicitude when I 
remember that I am addressing you as my country- 
men, as Irishmen, whose characters as jurors, as 
gentlemen, must find either honour or degradation in 
the result of your decision. Since so vast be the dis- 
tributive share of that national estimation that can 
belong to so unimportant an individual as myself, yet 
I do own I am tremblingly solicitous for its fate. 
Perhaps it appears of more value to me, because it is 
embarked in the same bottom with yours. Perhaps 
the community of peril, of common safety, of common 
wreck, gives a consequence to my share of the risk, 
which I could not be vain enough to give it, if it 
were not raised to it by that mutuality. But why 
stoop to think at all of myself, when I know that 



2o8 The Munster Circuit. 

you, gentlemen of the jury — when I know that our 
country itseK — are my clients on this day, and must 
abide the alternative of honour or of infamy, as you 
shall decide. But I will not despond ; I will not dare 
to despond. I have every trust, and hope, and confi- 
dence in you, and to that hope I will add my most 
fervent prayer to the God of all truth and justice so 
to raise, and enlighten, and fortify your minds, that 
you may so decide as to preserve to yourselves while 
you live the most delightful of all recojlections — that 
of acting justly ; and to transmit to your children the 
most precious of all inheritances — the memory of your 
virtue.^^ 

The learned Baron then charged the jury. As there 
were not many witnesses, and as the question resolved 
itself into one of damages, which was entirely the pro- 
vince of the jury to measure, his lordship was brief. 
The jury, after some consultation, brought in their 
verdict. They found for the plaintifE, 10,000Z. damages 
and costs. 

Thus ended this case, in which Curran made his 
last, and probably best, speech upon the Munster Cir- 
cuit. The trial lasted twelve hours. 



714^ Munster Circuit. ' 209 



CHAPTER XV. 

Course of the Manster Circuit. — Stage Coaches in the Eighteenth 
Century. — ^The Circuit. — Eunis. — Faction Fights. — Banim's- 
Poem. — The Old Man at the Altar.— Anecdote of the late 
Baron Greene. — The O'Loghlens. — Henns. — Quin Abbey. — 
Creggan Tower. — Atterbury Lodge. — Fatal Duels. — Bunratty 
Castle. 

Bbfoke we proceed further in the History of the 
Munster Circuit during the present century, it may be 
well to take a glance at the mode of travelling used 
formerly, and at the various towns visited by the 
judges of assize. 

Previously to the year 1760 there was no conveyance 
open to public use between the cities and towns of Ire- 
land. The country was so thickly wooded, the roads 
so badly made, travelling was very insecure ; and this 
was rendered still more dangerous by the numbers of 
rogues and ruffians who infested any which promised a 
chance of plunder. To avert this last danger persons 
usually travelled in parties; and we are informed it 
was the custom for persons about to journey, say from 
Cork or Limerick to Dublin, to post in a conspicuous 
place, as over the mantelpiece of the principal inn, their 
names and the date of their intended departures. In 
Limerick this place of rendezvous was the Coflfee-Room 
in Quay Lane ; and here the adventurous pilgrims met, 

p 



2 lo The Munster Circuit. 

taking care to be well armed for the road. The journey 
to DubUn usually occupied five days. The same horses 
went the whole way. The bar, on horseback, usually 
formed the escort of the judges, who were met on the 
confines of the respective counties by the high sherifis 
of each county, attended by a guard bearing javelins. 
A witty judge was once asked, '' Of what use are these 
jfevelin men ? ^' He replied, '' I suppose they are to 
help me to cha/rge the grand jury/ ^ 

About the year 1760 a coach, called the " Fly/' was 
started to run between Limerick and Dublin. It per- 
formed the journey, about 100 miles, in four days. 
The '* Fly ^' was large and heavy in construction, which, 
indeed, was indispensable ; as the roads were so un- 
even, a lighter vehicle would be jolted to pieces. The 
road-makers, going on the axiom, a straight line is the 
shortest between two points, ran their roads as straight 
as an arrow, heedless of such impediments as hills or 
bogs ; the traveller had no choice but to climb the one 
and to wade the other. As the strong-built coach re- 
quired stout harness to move it, the accoutrements of 
the four sturdy horses were of a most elaborate and 
complicated character. We can well suppose the time 
it took to harness the relays of horses, from the cir- 
cumstance that the same harness was used throughout 
the four days^ journey. But time and the march of in- 
tellect worked changes for the better. The slow-going 
'^ Fly ^' was replaced by a coach of lighter build, called 
the ^' Balloon," and it was a decided improvement to 
find the relays of horses ready harnessed when the 
stage was reached. The ''Balloon" reached Dublin 
from Limerick in three days, and some twenty years 



The Munster Circuit, 2 1 [ 

later the route was changed. Instead of proceeding 
over Thomond Bridge and by Killaloe, the coach went 
by Clare Street, and via Nenagh, to Dublin. This 
shortened the journey to two days ; and when I tra- 
velled by coach, before the railroads banished the 
stage, we reached Limerick from Dublin in a day. 
Towards the close of the eighteenth century the ex- 
tent of the Munster Circuit was considerably changed. 
In 1796 the counties of Waterford and Tipperary were 
joined to the Leinster Circuit, and since then Clare, 
Limerick, Kerry, and Cork counties form the Munster. 
The usual route is for the judges of assize to open the 
commission first in Clare, then in Limerick, next in 
Kerry, and lastly in Cork ; but this rule has been de- 
parted from, as in the year 1816, when the Summer 
Assizes commenced in Cork, whence the judges pro* 
ceeded to Ennis, thence to Limerick and Tralee. Ow- 
ing to the heavy criminal calendar, they had to return 
to discharge the gaol p-t Cork. 

Ennis, the assize town and capital of the county of 
Clare at the commencement of the present century, 
presented a very diflferent aspect to its present im- 
proved one. The streets were narrow, irregular, badly 
paved, and not over clean at any time. It is called 
Ennis from Inis, an island, being built on an insulated 
ground situate in the river Fergus. Two of the chief 
streets form a continuous line along the banks of the 
river, while a third branches olf from the old court- 
house towards Limerick. This court house witnessed 
the displays of Curran, Hoare, Quin, and the other 
leaders of the Munster Circuit in olden times, and the 

old hostel of the " Gridiron ^^ could tell, had it a tongue, 

p 2 



212 The Munster Circuit 

many amusing stories. The landlady, Honor O^Logt- 
len, must have had a ready wit. Happening to enter 
the bar-room after dinner, Curran proposed her health. 
*^ I give you, gentlemen/^ he said, " Honor and 
Honesty/^ Possibly the worthy landlady did not feel 
complimented, for she readily rejoined, ^' Your abneffd 
friends, Mr. Curran/' Ennis College, at the time we 
refer to, was in great repute. It is one of the four 
classical schools of Erasmus Smith's foundation, and at 
this time accommodated a hundred boarders and about 
half the number of day pupils. The ruin of the Fran- 
ciscan Abbey, where the Court of Assize was attempted 
to be held, as mentioned in my first chapter, still forms 
a picturesque object near the town. This abbey owed 
its foundation to the kingly race . of Thomond, and 
many of the descendants of Brian Boroihme tranquilly 
rest beneath its crumbling walls. The great eastern 
window, thirty feet in height, divided by five stone 
muUions, lancet-headed, displays great beauty of de- 
sign and skill in execution. The abbot's chair, in the 
chancel, and the high altar, are richly sculptured, and 
several ancient tombs show traces of pristine beauty, 
though now sadly defaced by time. 

For many years the demon of discord lurked among 
the people of Clare, and faction fighting extensively 
prevailed. Scarcely an assize took place in which the 
calendar did not present an imposing array of names of 
prisoners indicted for assaults more or less murderous. 
These continued until the O'Connell election in 1828, 
when the Roman Catholic clergy prevailed on the 
heads of factions to become reconciled. John Banim 
wrote some spirited linos describing this event, which 



• 

The Munster Circuit. 213 

lie ' recited to me^ and I here present them to my 
readers under the headings '"The Old Man at the 
Altar : ''— 

" An old man knelt at the altar, 
His enemy's hand to take ; 
And at first his voice did falter, 
And his feeble hands did shake. 
For his only brave boy — his glory, 
Had been stretch'd at the old man's feet, 
A corpse, all so cold and gory. 
By the hand that he now mast greet. 

" The old man soon stopp'd speaking. 
For rage, that had not gone by, 
From under his brows came breaking. 
Up into his enemy's eye. 
And now his hands are not shaking, 
But, clench'df on his breast are cross'd ; 
And he looks a wild wish to be taking 
Bevenge for the son he has lost. 

'' Bat the old man look'd around him, 
And thought of the place he was in. 
And thought of the vow that bound him. 
And thought that revenge is sin ; 
And then, crying tears like a woman, 
' Your hand,* he cried, ' ay, tlnat hand. 
And I do forgive you, foeman, 
For the sake of our bleeding land.' " 

Years afterwards some lingering sparks of the old 
faction fends brought several Clare boys into the dock 
at Bnnis. They were tried, and the judges were taking 
a walk along the banks of the Fergus before repairing 
to their respective courts, the next morning. They 
were the late Baron Greene and the late Judge 



214 The Munster Circuit. 

Grampton. Their persons were unknown to a crowd 
of men who advanced towards Bnnis. When about to 
pass the judges, one of the group, civilly taking off his 
hat, said, — 

"Maybe, gentlemen, ye were in the court yester- 
day?^^ 

'^ Yes, my man," replied Baron Greene. 

'^ And can your honour tell us what was done to the 
boys of the O'Shaughnessys ?'' 

" I do not know,^^ answered the Baron, who had 
tried the records, " but I think that gentleman/' 
indicating his brother judge, "may know all about 
them/' 

To him the interrogatory was put. 

"They were all acquitted,'' replied Judge Cramp- 
ton. 

"Then, by the powers," shouted the countryman, 
" they must have had great interest intirely." 

When the crowd were lost in the distance, the baron 
jocularly said, — 

" Oh, Crampton, how well that fellow knew you." 

Few men under a grave visage enjoyed a joke more 
than Baron Gkeene. He often entertained me with 
excellent anecdotes, especially of Lord Norbury. I 
dined with him one day, when we happened to speak 
of a breach of promise of marriage case on the list of 
records for trial, and he told the following of Lord Nor- 
bury : " When charging the jury in a breach of promise 
case, the letters of the faithless defendant had been so 
long in the plaintiff's pocket, or so often shown to her 
sympathizing friends, they were greatly frayed at the 
folds, and almost in tatters. ' Gentlemen,' said Lord 



The Munster Circuit, 215 

Norbury, carefully holding up one of the epistles to 
the gaze of the jury, ' it's easy to see these are love- 
letters, because they're so mighty tender,^ In a case 
wherein the plaintiff's attorney's name was Norman, he 
seemed quite jubilant, as though anticipating a verdict. 
The Chief Justice said, * Take care, it is not the Norman 
conquest yet/ " 

The baron's father. Sir Jonah Greene, had been 
Eecorder of Dublin. When sentencing for the tenth 
time some hardened female criminal, he said, ^^ There 
was no use in committing her to a prison in this coun- 
try ; he would transport her for seven years, and he 
hoped, in a new country, she would endeavour, with 
the blessing of God, to regain the character she had 
t9Tnished by her career of vice in this." Having 
ceased his admonition, he was rather taken aback by 
the damsel's inquiry, '' Ah, thin, plase your lordship, 
whin do we sail?" 

Glare has furnished many very eminent members to 
the Munster Circuit. 

Sir MicHAiSL O'LoGHLEK, late Master of the Bolls in 
Ireland, was a native of the county, and his distin- 
guished sons. Sir Colman, Sir Brtan, and Michael, 
were all at the bar/ The late amiable Eight Hon. 
Sir Colman Michael O'Loghlen, Bart., Serjeant-at-Law, 
represented his native county in the House of Com- 
mons. The Hon. Matthew Finucane, Judge of the 
Court of Common Pleas in 1794, was also a Clare man, 
while the talented family, the Henns, of Paradise, 
Eoldysart, have furnished a number of eminent lawyers 

' For memoirs of Sir Michael and Sir Colman O'Loghlen, 
V We " The Irish Bar," chap. xxiv. 



2i6 The Munster Circuit, 

who have worthily sat upon the judgment-seat. This 
family are descended from Chief Baron Hen e, whose 
patent bears date 11th March, 1679.^ This judge's 
great grandson, William Henn, second son of Thomas 
Henn, Esq., of Paradise, County Clare, was appointed 
one of the judges of the Court of Eng's Bench, 1st 
August, 1768. The judge's only son, William, was 
bom in Paradise, and was appointed a Master in Chan- 
cery. He maiTied Miss Lovett, sister of Sir Jonathan 
Lovett, of Lipscombe Park, Buckinghamshire, Bart. 
William, the eldest son of this marriage was a member 
of the Munster bar, and continued so until he also 
became a Master in Chancery, when his brother, 
Jonathan Henn, joined the Munster Circuit. Perhaps 
no greater proof of the uncertainty of professional 
success at the bar can be given than in the career of 
Jonathan Henn, Q.C. He had joined the Connaught 
Circuit, and went its round for ten years without a 
brief. When his elder brother became Master Henn, 
Jonathan changed from the Connaught to the Munster 
Circuit. He shortly found a marked change in his 
professional prospects ; briefs came in in shoals, and 
when I joined he was confessedly the foremost man on 
the Munster Circuit. 

This family is now worthily represented by my 
esteemed friend Thoitas Ricb Hbnn, Esq., Q.C., Re- 
corder and Judge for the county of Galway. 

Besides those I have enumerated, many others claim 
mention. The present learned and amiable Baron FitsB- 
gerald is, I believe, a Clare man. Mr. Peter O'Brien, 

8 Smyth's " Law Officers/' p. 142. 



i4k«H.>Jw ii^^^^«Bvm^^i^a^^«F?«j i.J«iii*«a^BH^ITT7'*7i^iV^i^M^^^««H«w^^^WVP 



T'ifo Munster Circuit. 217 

another worthy member of the family of Hon. Judge 
(VBrien^ bids fair to sustain the credit of his ancient 
race. Nicholas Purcell O^Grorman, Q.C., for many years 
chairman for the county of Kilkenny, was a native of 
County Clare. We shall refer to him later on. 

The journey from Ennis to Limerick, now traversed 
by rail, was formerly a pleasant drive of a few hours 
through a picturesque and interesting country. The 
last time I traversed this road was in company with a 
highly intelligent magistrate * of Clare and his accom- 
plished wife. They were anxious to show me some 
beautiful ruins ; and as a brief notice of them may serve 
to present a variety to the events we shall presently 
relate, I venture to give them place, as forming part of 
the Munster Circuit. Mr. Frost told me much about 
U ed Lysaght. Many members of the family are buried 
in the churchyard of Kilf enora. He copied one inscrip- 
tion, which is thus carved on the stone : lS(m quisquam 
depandavi me scepefefelli Marie Baccho Venereque tributa 
dedi Patricio Lysaght obiit 1712. Mtatis sua 85/^ 

While thus conversing about the natives of Clare, 
the stately remains of Quin Abbey came in view. 
Beautiful in decay, how noble must it have been in the 
days of its pride ! I could not help thinking how little 
is known of the pious inmates of these cloistered walls, 
which in so many places in Ireland adorn the scenery. 
It is not so with the owners of feudal castles. Bunratty 
has its history, Creggan its story, but I failed to dis- 
cover much about the Abbey of Quin. Possibly, the 
different ways in which the occupants passed their time 

^ Mj excellent host James Frost, Esq., of Balljmorris, High 
Sheriff, County Clare, 1879. 



21 8 The Munster Circuit. 

may account for this. The warrior chief passed his 
days in war or rapine, taking enemies in the field, or 
preys of cattle from the plain ; while the peaceful and 
uniform lives of the monks went tranquilly on, as the 
river that flowed beside them ; and there was little to 
hand down to posterity save accounts of their piety or 
charity. With such thoughts we drove swiftly on. 
Having passed through the village of Quin, we reached 
the magnificent ruins of Quin Abbey. It was evidently 
one of the finest buildings in Ireland, and pleasantly 
situated on the banks of a clear rapid stream. This 
rivulet tumbles over the rocky bed with the same heed- 
less impetuosity as it did centuries ago, when matin 
song and vesper hymn told, in notes of prayer and 
praise, the dawn and close of day. Sad and forsaken 
are the ruins now. It was not without a sigh over 
fallen greatness I mounted the broken steps leading to 
the interior. Judging from the outward walls, I waa 
led to expect a rich treat of ecclesiastical architecture 
when I passed within. Nor was I doomed to disap- 
pointment. When I reached the portal I paused to 
contemplate the spacious church, for the eye looked 
through the chancel-arch to the lofty muUioned window 
over the high altar, which still retains its place, though 
generations have passed since abbot or friar ofiered 
sacrifice there. Altars also yet stand on each side of 
the chancel-arch, and an arch of noble span opens the 
chapel to the south, most probably the lady-chapel. 
Here some altars yet remain. In the middle of the 
church, between the space in front of the high altar 
and the entrance, is a lofty tower, still showing its 
beautiful proportions to the surrounding country. 



«i«ll 



The Munster Circuit 219 

Many remams of former decoration still survive the 
wreck of time and disfiguration of man. '^ The Annals 
of the Four Masters'' inform ns the monastery of Quin 
(Gninche) was founded for Franciscan friars by Lioda 
Cam McNamara in 1402^ but Father Wadding claims 
a yet earlier date for this foundation. 

Be that as it may, to the house of McNamara belongs 
the fact of placing the friars of Strict Observance in 
this beautiful monastery^ and the tomb of the founder 
still remains^ close beside the high altar. The canopy 
over the tomb bears traces of rich sculpture in gothio 
carving and five clustered pillars^ the sharpness of out- 
line and solidity of execution bidding defiance to time. 
The inscription, in the gothic character, is not easy to 
decipher, but a more recent one is sheltered beneath 
the canopy. It is surmounted by the arms of McNa- 
mara, anciently a very powerful sept in Thomoud, and 
still represented by several families of distinction. This 
tells us the monument was erected in 1433, by Macon 
Dall McNamara, Lord of Glancoilean, and was repaired 
by Captain Teage McNamara of Bannee, in 1714. 

I am happy to learn that some efibrt is about being 
made to rescue these noble ruins from the neglect and 
desolation in which I beheld them. 

We next reached Six-Mile Bridge, called in Irish 
Amhain G'Geama, from the river flowing through the 
country of the O'Gearneys, or O^Keameys. A chapel 
and vicarial house of the Dominicans stood here in 
former days, but no traces linger now. Though the 
village is well situated, it does not show any signs of 
present prosperity. Some years ago, when Colonel 
Yandeleur contested the county of Clare on Couserva- 



220 TIte Munster Circuit, 

tive principles with the Liberal candidates, a melan- 
choly collision took place here between some men 
conducting Colonel Vandeleur's voters to the Court- 
house to poll with the country people. The military 
was ordered to load with ball, and fired among the 
people, and several lives were lost. A varied line of 
country brought us to a broad lake reposing beneath a 
ridge of mountains ; and from its brink, boldly situated 
upon a lofty rock, rose, massive and strong, the tower 
called Creggan. 

A few years ago this ancient specimen of a chief- 
taints stronghold was a mouldering ruin; sheep 
roamed at will from postern to bastion, the mountain 
goat cropped the ivy that clustered on its walls, or the 
grass that grew over the empty moat; but its 
picturesque site and capabilities attracted the notice 
of an English clergyman, the Rev. John Harvey 
Ashworth, and, by the expenditure of a very con- 
siderable sum of money, and an equal amount of archi- 
tectural skill, he has converted this fast-tumbling ruin 
into a strong tower, likely to form for ages a comfort- 
able dwelling. My host and I scambled along the 
rough valley, watered by the lake, over which stands 
the rock, crowned by the tall tower. The castle, 
almost inaccessible, was surrounded on three sides by 
the lake, and then defended by a moat, now dry. 
There was no tower or outwork that I could trace, arid 
on gaining entrance we found ourselves in a good- 
sized hall, fitted up with a modem kitchen range and 
other appliances for cooking, of which the O^Briens or 
McNamaras of former days had no experience. Instead 
of the spiral steps of stone leading to the rooms over- 



The Munster Circuit. 221 

head^ we mounted wooden steps, and soon beheld a 
goodly apartment, wainscoted with oak richly carved \ 
bay windows of plate-glass aflForded excellent light and 
extensive views of the surrounding district. Yet 
higher, we visited smaller chambers, evidently intended 
for bedrooms, but the good taste which regulated the 
rooms below did not soar so high. Common bedroom 
paper, of poor design, formed a strong contrast to 
ancient doors and stone casements. We climbed to 
the roof, and here my host pointed out the Broadfoot 
Hills, the castles of Dangan, Ealkishan, Knappogue, 
and the beautiful ruin we lately visited, Quin Abbey. 

Oreggan Tower formerly belonged to the celebrated 
associate of O^Connell, Tom Steele. His mansion, 
CuUane, lay in the valley beneath; but this accom- 
plished and very eccentric individual preferred to 
occupy the solitary tower, even before its present 
renovation, to his more comfortable house. He medi- 
tated restoring Creggan, but his eager desire for poli- 
tical notoriety caused him to abandon house and land, 
and to devote all the energies of his ardent nature to 
advance the cause of what he deemed nationality. This 
left the restoration of Creggan Tower to an English 
clergyman, whose taste and judgment is most credit- 
able. How I wish other ruins in Clare and other 
counties in Ireland fell into equally competent hands 
desiring their restoration. 

Our road was next over a rich and well- cultivated 
country ; but not far oflF were the wild and rugged hills 
separating Clare from Galway, and the Shannon flowed 
along lovely banks, fed by many tributaries. Some 
were rapid mountain streams, tumbling over beds of 



222 The Munster Circuit, 

rock, overhung with waving trees, the leaves golden 
with autumnal tints. A venerable house, called 
Atterbury Lodge, was pointed out as we drove by. 
Its pointed gables and casemented windows, mantled 
with ivy, gave it an appearance strikingly picturesque. 
The name also indicated it owed its erection to other 
than Irish taste. I asked how it gained the name of 
the celebrated Bishop of Rochester, and my erudite 
host said, " After the Bill of Pains and Penalties had 
been passed against the Bishop, in 1723, he was 
sentenced by the Lords to be deprived of all his 
offices, banished the realm, and sentenced to death in 
case of return. He went to France, accompanied by 
his daughter. While in France, Miss Atterbury was 
married to the Rev. Mr. Morice, who had been a fellow- 
student at Oxford with William, third Earl of Thomond. 
This nobleman told his friend, the Rev. Mr. Morice, 
that he (Lord Thomond) had the right of presentation 
to several benefices in Thomond, and if Mr. Morice 
would accept half a dozen livings in Ireland he was 
quite welcome to them. This liberal offer was promptly 
accepted. The Rev. Mr. Morice became rector of a 
union of parishes in the vicinity of Six-Mile Bridge, 
county Clare ; and he built this quaint and picturesque 
house, which he called Atterbury Lodge, after his 
distinguished father-in-law.*' It is at present on the 
property of my host. 

Not far from this ancient edifice stands another, 
also belonging to my friend, and called " The Lodge,^* 
having formerly been a lodge or hunting-dwelling of 
the lords of Thomond. This also claimed my notice. 
It is a prettily-situated, convenient mansion, with well- 



The Munster Circuit. ^23 

arranged rooms; but my friend^s wife declined to 
occupy it, from the melancholy associations connected 
with its site. Clare, as well as its proximate county 
of Galway, was remarkable in the days when duelling 
was a common mode of settling all diflFerences between 
gentlemen, for the number of its so-called affairs of 
honour. In Ireland, sixty years ago, no gentleman 
could take his proper place in the society of that day 
who had not '^ smelt powder,'^ and the lawn of the 
lodge was a favourite place for such meetings. The 
occupant in the early part of the present century was 
Mr Samuel Spaight, sub -sheriff of the county Clare. 
A friend of his, Mr. Bridgeman, with several others, 
dined with him. After dinner one day, when the 
punch was circulating, a servant told Mr. Bridgeman 
"he was wanted outside.'' At the hall door Mr. 
Bridgeman saw his herdsman, who told him "a 
number of his cattle were sent to the pound for tres- 
pass, by orders of Mr. Spaight.'' Bridgeman, incensed 
at this proceeding, returned to the dining-room. 
" Sam," said he, " are you aware my cattle have been 
sent to pound ? " " Quite awai*e of it. I told my 
steward not to allow any man's cattle to trespass on 
my property," replied Mr. Spaight. '^ Then you and 

your property be ! " cried the enraged owner of 

the impounded beasts. "If I was not in my own 
house, and you one of my guests, I'd pound you," 
cried the master of the mansion. " Don't let your 
fastidiousness stop you, my tight fellow," replied Mr. 
Bridgeman. " If you're willing to go out, I'm at your 
service," said'Mr. Spaight, rising from the table. " I 
beg your pardon, gentlemen, for leaving you for a 



224 The Munster Circuit, 

short time. Here, Mr. Bridgeman, are two brace 
of pistols, ready for use. Take your choice. Con 
McNamara will be my second, and I dare say Mick 
Malony will act for you.'' Both gentlemen nodded 
acquiescence, and the quartette lefb the room. The 
moon shone clear as a noonday sun, and twelve paces 
of the ground were measured near the Lodge. The 
principals were placed, and the word '^ Fire '' caused 
both pistols to explode. Mr. Spaight missed, but Mr. 
Bridgeman left his host quivering on the daisies. He 
received a ball in the seat of honour that lamed him 
for life. 

A still more fatal encounter took place later, when a 
Mr. Howard fought Mr. Foley, and shot him dead. 
These incidents made such an impression on the lady's 
mind, she could not be induced to occupy a dwelling 
to which such memories were attached. 

A few miles nearer to Limerick is Bunratty, on the 
bank of the river Ratty, a tributary of the Shannon. 
This regal keep, for centuries, was the chosen seat of 
the kings of Thomond. It is impossible to look upon 
its lofty towers, and sturdy battlements, soaring high 
above the surrounding woods, without being impressed 
with its feudal grandeur. The night was closing 
round as we mounted the steps leading into the vaulted 
hall, and ascended to the spacious chambers where the 
O'Briens of Thomond ruled in days of yore. When 
the Anglo-Norman invaders came to Ireland this was 
the site of the palace of Donald O'Brien, King of 
Thomond, and here monarch after monarch lived and 
died, until, in a.d. 1276, Edward I. made a grant of the 
barony of Bunratty to Thomas de Clare, who built the 



TJie Munster Circuit. 225 

castle and strongly fortified it. He had need to do so. 
The storm of battle speedily raged around Bunratty. 
The O'Briens rose in their mighty and defeated the 
Anglo-Normans. They were pursued to the very 
towers of Buni*atty, and forced to seek shelter within 
the walls of the fortress. Seldom a year then passed 
without fierce wars desolating the district, and history 
states that in 1322 the castle was taken and razed to 
the ground by the O'Briens of Thomond. It was again 
rebuilt by Con M^Shuda M'Namara. It soon again 
was held by the O'Briens, for it was in the heart of 
their kingdom, and remained in their possession until 
the reign of Elizabeth. In the year 1588 the army of 
the Earl of Essex, Elizabeth's unfortunate viceroy, be- 
sieged it. He took it by storm from Sir Donal O'Brien, 
whom he proclaimed a traitor. The castle was next 
given to one of the race of O'Brien, who did homage 
to England's Queen, and became Earl of Thomond. 
During the wars between Cromwell and the Con- 
federated Catholics, Bunratty was stoutly contended 
for. It was captured by the Earl of Inchiquin, though 
bravely held by the troops of the Commonwealth ; re- 
taken by Lord Forbes, by means of a fleet sailing on 
the Shannon, when, according to Ludlow's ''Memoirs," 
no less than two thousand pounds sterling were found 
buried in the walls, and as many as sixty horses were 
in the stables. A garrison of considerable strength, 
left here by Cromwell, was not able to resist the attack 
of the Irish under Lord Muskerry, to whom it capitu- 
lated on honourable terms after a siege of six weeks. 
Having sufficient light to survey the interior, we passed 
through the various rooms, which, until lately, were 

Q 



226 The Munster Circuit. 

occupied by the present possessor, Mr. Studdert^s 
family. Traces of rich decorations remain, and the 
chapel, in one of the square towers, must have been 
especially beautiful. 

As I stood upon the roof, and looked forth upon the 
ancient defences beneath, my thoughts reverted to 
those times when mailed chieftain and half-naked 
kerne contended for mastery in these halls, and the 
shout of "St. George ^^ was answered by the "Lamb 
laider enuichthur" ^ of the O'Briens. Happily these 
days are over, and the ancient fortalice, once the seat 
of Thomond's kings, now shelters in one of its towers 
a few policemen of the Royal Irish Constabulary. 

A short drive brought our carriage from Bunratty 
Castle to Ballymorris, the seat of my hospitable friends. 
Here the scenery is very fine ; in front rolls the mighty 
Shannon, bearing numbers of white-sailed ships on 
their voyage, while the distant hills of the county of 
Limerick, the wooded slopes of Carrig-a-Gunnell, the 
ivy-mantled ruins of many a once strong castle, diversify 

the scene. 

Having enjoyed the cordial greeting of my accom- 
plished friends, I left them for Limerick. The old 
castle of Cratloe is on the route, and the historic city 
presents a very striking appearance. But Limerick 
demands a fresh chapter. . 

1 " The strong hand uppermost," the motto of the O'Briens. 



The Munster Circuit. 227 



CHAPTEE XVI. 

Limerick. — A Witty Waiter. — Latin Yersion of Garryowen. — 
The Grardens of Sweet Billy Carr. — Chief Baron O'Grady. — 
Hon. Judge O'Brien.— Right Hon. Judge Barry. — Harry 
Deane Grady. — The Cathedral. — How to check a fervid 
Preacher. — The Bellfounder. 

The situation of Limerick is very striking. On every 
side ranges of lofty mountains rise to shelter it^ and the 
fertile district called the Golden Vein dips into the 
hills. The broad bosom of the lordly Shannon displays 
a series of lakes as it rolls on its way to the sea. It 
spreads into a noble estuary some miles below the city. 
Then the city itself, with its historic castles, its famed 
walls, its ancient town, with its quaint old streets of 
gabled houses, built after the style so common in the 
old Flemish towns, the new portion of the city present- 
ing so great a contrast to the old in its regular streets, 
its fine public buildings, its banks, churches, theatre, 
institutions, all excite the interest, the curiosity, and the 
admiration of the visitor. 

As I have no intention of entering into competition 
with my able and worthy friend, Mr. Lenihan, in 
writing a EQstory of Limerick, I shall content myself 
with noticing such features as fairly come within my 
province as the writer of the Munster Circuit. 

The old '' Head Inn " of Limerick was in Cornwallis 
Street. I presume it was here the Bar Mess was held 

Q 2 



228 The Munster Circuit. 

in ancient days. Mrs. Siddons, and other eminent 
actresses and actors, took up their abode here ; the 
first coach, the " Fly,^^ started thence on its four-day 
journey to the Irish metropolis. While I went circuit 
we frequented Swinbum's Hotel. This hostelry was a 
large, rambling house, wherein we were occasionally 
not over- well served. I remember once our attention 
being attracted by a venerable dish of pastry, from 
which the down was appearing like an incipient mous- 
tache. One of the Bar, I think the present Judge 
PitzGerald, inquired of one of the waiters, '' How often 
has that dish been placed upon the Bar Mess table ? ^' 
The Garryowen boy^s face puckered with a smile as he 
replied, ^^ Why, then, counsellor, 'pon my conscience I 
can't say, for I was not here at the last Assizes !'' The 
dinners, however, were, as a rule, well served, and the 
famous Limerick salmon sure to be a popular dish. The 
judges were well lodged, and I can speak of their table 
being always well supplied. 

At Limerick, until 1809, it was customary for the 
judges to be borne in sedan chairs, fully robed, from 
their lodging to the court-house. Should any of my 
readers be so juvenile as to have no idea what was the 
shape of a sedan chair, I may briefly say it was a capa- 
cious box, having inside a comfortable seat, with a door 
in front, about four feet high. It was lighted by a 
glass window. These chairs were covered with leather, 
and carried by two men— one in front and one behind— 
who sustained the chair and their fare by long poles. 
The chairmen moved at a pace of about four miles an 
hour. They are now quite obsolete. 

The County Court-house was built in 1732. An 



The Munster Circuit. 229 

arched way led to a lane in St. Prances^ Abbey, the site 
of the court-house. In 1 750 a high gaol was built in 
the middle of Mary Street ; the lower dungeons were 
placed in the basement \ these, necessarily, were gloomy 
and unclean. Not only felons, but debtors and poli- 
tical prisoners, were condemned to these dismal cells. 

Limerick has been famous for her gardens. Who 
has not heard of Garryowen ? Here, in this Limerick 
Vauxhall, originated the acquaintance which culminated 
in one of the most foul murders ever disclosed during 
the trial of the perpetrators, as we shall see in due 
time. At present we wish to call the attention of our 
classical readers to a Latin version of the popular song 
of Garryowen, with its well-known chorus : — 

" Instead of Spa we'll drink brown ale. 
And pay the reckoning on the nail — 
No man for debt shall go to jail, 
From Garryowen in glory." 

The nail was a stone pillar, set up in the Exchange, 
whereon debtors were wont to discharge their liabi- 
lities. The air to which the popular words were 
adapted is usually played after the Irish national tune 
of St. Patrick's Day. 

The following was composed by Mr. T. Stanley 
Tracey, A.B., a scholar of Trinity, and is, I am sure, 
new to our readers. It was, I understand, quite extem- 
poraneous, and not retouched : — 

" Caehen Gaeryowenienses. 

" Baccheidee impavidi, 
Adsitis compotanti mi ! 
Ut decet vos fortissimi, 

Ad pulchre concinendum. 



230 The Munster Circuit. 

Chortjs — Cervisiam fnscam pro aqna bibamus 
Symbolam promptam illico damus, 
Absit at nexi in vincla eamns 
Ex Garryowen insigni ! 

" Juvenes samus qui talia cnrent, 
Frangere lychnos dum splendidurant 
Et Limericenses plateis jurant 
Nos^cunctos depugnare ! 

" Fenestris domorum et f oris cassis, 
Et temis quatemis vigilibus Isasis, 
Sigua inspiciat medicus necis, 
Et illinantur vulnera ! 

" Ladentes pnlsabimus omnem lictorem, 
PrsBtorem urbaiiiiin et genus honim — 
Nequis efflagitares debitorem 
In Garryowen insigni. 

" Virtus nostra f amam qusBrit 
Unde venimus nemo haeret 
Quam nomine tuum terrorem ferat, 
Garryowen insignis ! 

" Johannes O'Connell procerus et fortis 
Cujusvis oneris sudibus tortis, 
Ex Garryowen ad Thomondi portas 
Projiciet insignis 1 

" Sed Garryowen sublabi sivit, 
Ex quo Johannes Corkagian ivit, — 
Et Harry O'Brien vinclis salivit, 
Coram Judici et Juratores." 

It was not merely upon Owen^s Garden Limerick 
rested her horticultural fame. Eoche's "Hanging 
Garden/' and those of Mr. William Carr, also were 
celebrated. Mr. Francis Wheeler, father of Lady 



The Munster Circuit. 23 1 

Bulwer Lytton, wrote some verses on these last-named 
gardens in 1809, which I quote here : — 

" You may travel the nation all over. 
From Dublin to sweet MuUingar, 
And a garden you will not discover 
Like the garden of sweet Billy Carr. 

" 'Tis there that the tall trees were planted. 
In the days of the old Tommy Parr ; 
And the soft-winding Shanyn is flowing 
Round the garden of sweet Billy Carr. 

" 'Tis there the big praties are growing, 
Enough to supply all Dunbar, 
Where the soft-winding Shannon is flowing 
Bound the garden of sweet Billy Carr. 

" His sisters, like sweet pretty posies. 
More beauteous than roses by far, 
They bloom like carnations and roses. 
In the garden of sweet Billy Carr. 

" Oh may they be happily married 
To a mayor, and a lawyer, and tar ; 
How blest will they be when they're wed 
With the sisters of sweet Billy Carr. 

" Now if youVe a mind to live frisky, 
And trouble and grief you would mar, 
I'd advise you to go and drink whisky 
Along with the sweet Billy Carr. 

" In a room, sir, he keeps a big bottle, 
Without either crack, flaw, or star. 
Which is often applied to the throttle 
Of that thirsty gay soul, Billy Carr." 

But we must turn to more serious subjects than the 
Limerick gardens, in which we have disported with the 



232 The Munster Circuit. 

local bards. I desire to preserve in our history the 
memories of some distinguished natives of Limerick 
who have been members of the Munster Circuit. 

Chief Baeon (yGEADY was bom at Mount Prospect, 
in the county of Limerick, on the 20th January, 1767. 
His family possessed considerable property in the 
county, and, as the young O^Grady displayed great 
talents, it was decided he was fit for the Bar. He 
became a student also of Trinity College, Dublin, where 
his career was highly successful. 

Having been called to the Bar, his legal acquire- 
ments soon obtained him lucrative practice. He 
selected the Munster Circuit, where his extensive con- 
nexions backed him with their influence; but his 
legal knowledge put him soon in the front rank of the 
Bar. 

He succeeded the Bight Hon. John Stewart as 
Attorney- General on the 8th of June, 1802. The mad 
attempt to renew the rebellion of the year 1798, made 
by the enthusiast Robert Emmet, afforded the Attorney- 
General ample employment in the year 1803. He pro- 
secuted the chiefs of that terrible emeute, in which the 
humane Lord Kilwarden, Chief Justice of the King^s 
Bench, lost his life. Mr. O'Grady became Chief Baron 
of the Exchequer, in the room of Lord Avonmore, on 
October 19 th, 1805. For the period of twenty-seven 
years Chief Baron O^Grady presided on the Exchequer 
Bench, then having both an equitable as well as legal 
jurisdiction. He was a great wit, possessed dry, 
caustic humoxu*, great knowledge of human nature, 
and a sarcastic turn of mind. Some anecdotes display 
this. 



The Munsier Circuit, 233 

An action on a bill of exchange, in which a coach 
maker was plaintiflf, and a young officer defendant, was 
tried in Limerick before Chief Baron O^Grady. The 
bill was given by the defendant, and drawn for twelve 
months. Having reached maturity, and remaining 
unpaid, the coachmaker brought his action. The 
defence was, no consideration. The defendant clearly 
proved that the gig, which was sold to him as a new 
vehicle, was, on the contrary, an old, vamped-up con- 
veyance, made to sell, the rotten wood covered with 
putty, painted and varnished, and so dilapidated it 
broke down in a week. The case having closed, the 
Chief Baron, in his richest brogue and comic humour, 
told the jury the bill had twelve months to run, but the 
gig had only one week to run, and, therefore, the jury 
could have no difficulty in finding their verdict accord- 
ingly. The defendant left court triumphant, and the 
coachmaker got back his dilapidated gig. 

When trying a number of juvenile offenders, who 
had made a raid on a provision-shop, one having se- 
cured a couple of fowls, another a ham, and the third a 
loin of mutton, the Chief Baron observed to the jury, 
'^The evidence shows the boys intended to have a 
picnic." 

A young barrister, who attempted to address the 
jury in defending a prisoner, was so nervous he could 

only repeat, " My unfortunate client, gentlemen ► 

My Lord, in this case, my unfortunate client ^* 

Finding the counsel unable to get on, the Chief Baron 
dryly observed, " Go on, sir ; so far, the Court is with 
you.'^ This quite extinguished the orator. 

Few who were acquainted with Chief Baron O^Grady 



234 ^^^ Munster Circuit. 

were aware lie possessed poetical talent. I subjoin a 
few lines from an unpublished poem, composed by 
him: — 

" When future bards shall sing of life, 
Its loves, its cares, and all its strife, 
The grace and moral of the song 
Shall to their checker'd fate belong 
Whose wayward fortune will supply 
The brightest tint and deepest dye ; 
These soldiers yet unborn in pride shall raise, 
Kelate their triumphs and renew their praise." 

It is said Chief Baron 0^ Grady was the first to 
suspect that Mr. Leonard M^Nally, who, with Curran, 
chiefly defended the United Irishmen, was not as 
earnest in his defences as his high-minded and accom- 
plished leader. It appears that M'Nally was actually 
for years in the pay of the Government. In a case 
where M^Nally wished to offer some observations to the 
Court, the Chief Baron said very significantly, '^ It 
would be better for your clients that you held your 
tongue.^' 

In January, 1881, Chief Baron 0^ Grady retired from 
the Bench. Shortly after this he was created Viscount 
Guillamore. In the month of June, of that year, while 
residing in Stephen^s Green, Dublin, he had a paralytic 
attack, which affected his speech and hand. He was, 
however, it was said, not very much influenced other- 
wise, for on the day it took place he was able to walk 
from his bed-chamber on the second story of his lofty 
house to his study on the ground floor, when he opened 
his bureau, and took a sum of money from it to give 



The Munster Circuit. 235 

Surgeon CoUis — who attended him — his fee, and pay 
household expenses. He attended to his private affairs 
as usual, and, on the 1st of August, left Dublin for his 
country-seat, Rockbarton, near Limerick. 

During the remainder of his life he was debarred 
from any prolonged conversation, and could not write 
more than a word or two on a slate. To enable him to 
enjoy conversing with his family and friends, he had 
recourse to pocket vocabularies, in which were arranged 
alphabetically the words most constantly occurring in 
his daily intercourse. Then he referred to dictionaries 
to supply his meaning on more difficult subjects. He 
could use a slate to write a word or figures, and his 
family soon understood his looks or gestures. He visited 
Dublin occasionally, and on one of these visits was 
called on by his old friend the late Chief Justice Bushe. 
This was in July, 1836, and though the ex-Chief Baron 
was obliged to support his share of the conversation by 
means of the vocabulary, slate, and pencil, they were 
able to hold a conversation about old times, mutual 
friends, and to discuss the changes which had since 
taken place in the Four Courts. This lasted for about 
an hour. 

It was about this time the will, which afterwards 
formed the subject of legal controversy, was prepared 
and executed by Lord Guillamore. 

It appears that when his lordship^s son, the Hon. 
Waller O'Grady, was at Rockbarton in March, 1836, 
his father informed him of his wish to have a new will 
prepared. By way of instructions for this proposed 
will, he pointed out to his son the alterations he wished 
to have introduced into a former will, also prepared by 



236 The Munster Ciraiit. 

Mr. Waller O^Grady under his father's directions, sub* 
sequent to his illness in 1831. His lordship previously- 
executed a will in 1819, but the state of his family, and 
position, was totally changed in the interval ; thus a 
new will becoming requisite, he resolved to express 
more carefully than in the former ones his testamentary 
dispositions as to every part of his property. 

The draft will was accordingly prepared, executed as 
a will, and, on Lord Guillamore repairing to Dublin, 
this draft was laid before Mr. Serjeant Greene, then 
Solicitor-General for Ireland. Having perused and 
approved of the draft will, it was returned to Mr. 
Bagnall, Lord Guillamore's attorney, for engrossment. 
Having been engrossed, on the 2nd July, it was exe- 
cuted by Lord Guillamore and witnessed by Mr. Serjeant 
Greene, Mr. Carew Smyth, the Recorder of Limerick, 
and Mr. Bagnall. The will left about 10,000Z. a year 
to his eldest son for life, about 400Z. a year to each of 
his younger sons, lOOOZ. a year to his widow, and 
several legacies. 

On the accession of Her Majesty, in 1837, the veteran 
peer attended a Privy Council at Dublin Castle, and 
took the usual oaths on the Queen's accession. He 
seems to have been very clear in his intellects with 
respect to money-matters. In 1838 an action was 
brought against him by one of his brothers, Carew 
0' Grady, who had been his registrar when he was 
Chief Baron, and he supplied the requisites for defend- 
ing the action so successfully as to nonsuit the plaintiff. 
In the next year, not approving of the manner in which 
another of his brothers, Mr. Darby O'Grady, applied 
the rents of his estates, he removed him from the agency. 



The Munster Circuit, 237 

and, by power of attorney, appointed one of his sons, 
the Hon. John O'Grady, agent in his place. 

Lord GuiUamore's health had grown very infirm for 
some time previous to his death, which took place at 
Rockbarton, county of Limerick, on the 2Uth April, 
1840. All the members of his family then in Ireland 
attended the funeral, and, on their return to Rockbarton 
House, the will of the deceased nobleman was found in 
a leather writing-case, in which he had been accustomed 
to keep valuable papers. It was then read aloud, and 
handed to the Hon. Waller O'Grady, who had been 
appointed executor. The will was proved on the 16th 
of May, 1 840, and a suit was shortly afterwards insti- 
tuted by the eldest son and heir-at-law of the deceased 
peer against the executor, for the purpose of having 
the probate which had been obtained by him in common 
form revoked, and administration granted to the eldest 
son of the personal effects of the deceased, as of a 
person dying intestate. This suit was tried before the 
Right Hon. Richard Keatinge, Judge of the Court of 
Prerogative in Ireland, on the 24th and 26th of Feb- 
ruary, 1844, and his judgment established the efficacy 
and validity of the will of the late lord, dated 2nd July, 
1836. It was subsequently brought for trial in Lime- 
rick at the Assizes, when the jury found against the 
will, thus entitling the eldest son to the family estates 
as heir-at-law, and not as devisee. 

Of those members of the Munster Bar who have 
gained the otium cum dignitate of the Bench, is one, 
born in the city of Limerick, who is associated with my 
early days — Judge O'Brien. His parents and mine 
were old and attached friends; and when he was a 



238 The Munster Circuit 

pupil of the Rev. Dr. Hinks's school, at Fermoy, was 
accustomed to spend his Sundays and holidays at my 
father^s. He was then very intelligent, and a great 
favourite with us all. 

When the Rev. Dr. Hinks exchanged the Fermoy 
school for the Belfast Institution, I lost sight of my 
playfellow, but was duly informed of his brilliant career 
in Trinity College. Amongst other honours, he was a 
gold medallist in 1825. Having selected the Bar as 
his future profession, Mr. O^Brien, whilst a student in 
London, attended the chambers of the eminent equity 
barrister, afterwards Master in Chancery, Andrew H. 
Lynch. Here he was associated with other Irish law 
students, many of whom rose to great eminence. In 
these chambers Mr. O'Brien became acquainted with 
equity drafting and conveyancing, two branches of the 
great legal tree in which he greatly distinguished 
himself. Having completed his terms, he was called to 
the Bar in Easter Term, 1830, and soon became a 
member of the Munster Circuit. His eldest brother, 
John O'Brien, of Elm Vale, had married Miss Mui-phy, 
of Cork ; his second brother, Peter, Miss Sheil, sister 
of the Right Hon. Richard Lalor Sheil; and his 
numerous connexions throughout Clare and Limerick 
afforded the young barrister the opportunity of dis- 
playing his great professional knowledge. Connected 
by close family ties with the eminent Clare solicitor, 
Mr. Cornelius O'Brien, M.P., and acting as counsel to 
Mr. Richard Scott, another well-known Clare attorney, 
Mr. O'Brien soon was in great and lucrative practice. 
He possessed indefatigable industry, ready appre- 
hension of the bearings of the cases entrusted to him. 



The Munster Circuit. 239 

and the clearness and soundness of his views caused 
him to be in high repute as a chamber counsel. While 
at the outer Bar, he was in great request for the 
Masters' offices ; and when he was named one of Her 
Majesty's Counsel, in 1841, he obtained leadiiig 
business in the Pour Courts, and on circuit. He was 
no orator, and Ms addresses to juries were never 
remarkable for beauty of composition, or grace of 
delivery, but they were clear statements of facts and 
apt expositions of the law bearing on each case. On the 
death of Serjeant Warren, in 1848, the Government 
conferred the vacant coif on Mr. O'Brien ; and, while 
Serjeant, he was selected to go circuit in a judicial 
capacity. The manner in which he discharged the 
important duties thus entrusted to his care evinced his 
fitness for the Bench, and in 1858, on the lamented 
death of the Eight Hon. Judge Moore, Mr. Serjeant 
O'Brien succeeded him as one of the Judges of the 
Queen's Bench. 

As his elevation to the Bench necessarily caused him 
to cease representing his native city in the House of 
Commons, the citizens of Limerick deemed this a 
fitting occasion for presenting Judge O'Brien with the 
following address : — 

'^ Sir, — ^We cannot permit the political connexion 
which subsisted for so many years between the ancient 
city of Limerick and yourself, reflecting credit upon 
both, to terminate without giving expression to our 
sentiments of regret, and gratification at the event. 

'^We lament the loss of a representative of your 
fellow-citizens in the House of Commons, whilst we 
rejoice that the administration of justice has been con- 



240 The Munster Circuit. 

fided to so competent and upright a member of your 
learned profession, assuring the Queen's subjects of a 
trustworthy guardian of their lives, their liberties, and 
their properties. 

" To many who have known you from your early 
youth, and observed your career to your present posi- 
tion, it appears that your example should afford a moral 
lesson to the rising generation, encouraging pains- 
taking toil, exemplary private and consistent public 
conduct. 

*^ Hoping you may long be spared to your country, 
your family, and your friends, we beg leave to offer you 
our hearty congratulations on your elevation to a judge- 
ship in the Court of Queen's Bench." 

Signed by men of all creeds. 

In reply to this well-merited tribute. Judge O'Brien 
wrote : — 

'^ It would indeed be presumptuous of me to think 
that I deserved the flattering terms in which you refer 
to my past career. They are to be ascribed far more 
to your over-partial kindness than any merits of mine. 
But, though undeserving of them, it shall be my 
anxious effort to justify, in some degree, your wishes 
and expectations for the future. The hope of doing so 
will be an honourable, and, at the same time, a power- 
ful incentive to exertion and perseverance." 

During the many years which have since elapsed. 
Judge O'Brien has fully sustained the hopes and expec- 
tations of the Limerick address. 

The Right Hon. Judge Baebt is another of the natives 
of Limerick who earned renown in the legal profession. 
His father practised as a solicitor, and finding the tastes 



The Munster Circuit. 241 

of his son aspired to the Bar, had him entered as a law 
student. In due course he was called to the Bar^ and 
selected the Munster Circuit. Here his gentlemanly 
manners, playful disposition, and social qualities soon 
rendered him popular with the Bar, while his great 
ability in his profession earned him the confidence of 
that sharp-seeing class, the attorneys. He soon obtained 
considerable practice, and, while law adviser at the 
Castle, was very zealous in the discharge of his duty to 
the Government. He became unpopular with those 
who sympathized with the Fenian movement, and 
having represented Dungarvan in the House of Com- 
mens, on the writs issuing for a new election, found 
no chance of again regaining his seat. He became 
Solicitor -General, while the Eight Hon. Edward 
Sullivan was Attorney-General for Ireland, and when 
that very eminent lawyer was appointed Master of the 
Bolls, on the untimely death of the Bight Hon. John E. 
Walsh, in 1 869, Mr. Barry became Attorney-General. 
He continued in office until the death of Judge Hayes, 
when he took his seat upon the Queen's Bench. 

The celebrated Harry Deane Grady was of the Lime- 
rick O'Gradys, and represented Limerick in the Irish 
Parliament. His colleague was Colonel Vereker, who 
was a stanch anti-Unionist, while Harry Deane Grady 
supported it. He was taken pretty roundly to task 
for this, and accused of having sold his country. He 
replied, " It was a devilish lucky thing for him and his 
family that he had a country to sell.'' * 

Of course every visitor to Limerick finds time to visit 

* In reward for his vote he was made Ooniisel to the Eevenue, 
with a salary of 1200^. a year. 

B 



242 The Munster Circuit. 

the ancient cathedral, its time-honoured towers having 
traces of its having survived the shocks of war. During 
the sieges of Ireton and De Genkel, it was a mark for 
the artillery of the invaders, though it is said the latter 
general desired it should be spared, presenting such an 
ornament to the city. It served as a store for the gar- 
rison, where they placed their provisions, and appear, 
thoughtlessly, to have invited the enemy's guns, by 
causing cannon to be directed from its towers against 
the besiegers.' 

In this ancient cathedral many monuments of great 
interest are placed. Time, and the ruthless hands of 
Ireton's troopers, have dealt hardly with many, but 
others ai*e in perfect preservation, and the love for 
everything elevating human life in this world, or dis- 
posing it for a better in the world to come, which has 
pre-eminently distinguished the learned and accom- 
plished Charles Graves, D.D., Lord Bishop of Lime- 
rick, my valued and respected friend, is a guarantee 
that every memorial of the past shall be carefully pro- 
tected. 

Many eminent preachers have awakened the hearts 
of the congregation to the fleeting nature of this life. 
Among the most celebrated was Dean Kirwan, son of 
the more distinguished Eev. Walter Blake Kirwan, 
who died in 1805. When first ordained, the Dean's 
talent for elocution was aided by instruction from John 
Kemble, the great tragedian, and the clergyman^s style 
was regarded as quite theatrical. Like Sydney Smith, 
he used to strike the pulpit-cushion with such energy 

' Leniham's " History of Limerick," p. 260. 



iva«! 



The Munster Circuit. 243 

as to raise a cloud of. dust^ enough to hide him from 
the congregation. This could not be allowed to con- 
tinue, so one Sunday the Bishop, Dr. Jebb, invited him 
to lunch after preaching, resolved to give him a quiet 
hint. 

''My dear young friend, ^^ said his lordship, ''you 
are determined to save the sexton all trouble in dusting 
the pulpit-cashion, you beat it with such sweeping 
energy ; and I am told Lady Palmer, who sat beneath 
you, was in a perfect agony, finding her new satin 
bonnet quite soiled, such clouds of dust fell on it." 

The hint was not lost — the energy was toned down 
in future. 

The Dean was unsparing in his efforts to moderate 
the love of tho Limerick belles for dancing and ball- 
going. It is said he went to greater lengths than were 
necessary. On one occasion he gave special offeuce to 
the ladies present by the startling strength of his lan- 
guage, in which he reprobated their mode of dressing 
for the ball-room. Many left the church, and others, 
who remained, blushed as bright a red as the uniforms 
of the miUtary gentlemen, whom, in unmeasured terms, 
he denounced.' Apropos of the Limerick belles, I con- 
clude my notice of the attractions of the city by relating 
an anecdote of its " bells." They are said to have been 
cast by an Italian for a convent close by his home, in 
the sunny land of his birth. In the wars between the 
Italians and Spaniards, the bellfounder had the misfor- 
tune to lose his sons, who joined the army of Italy, and, 
having no other children, enjoyed, as the solace of his 

• " Ireland before the Union," by Fitapatrick, p. 243. 

B 2 



244 ^^ Mufister Circuit. 

woes, the sweet tones of his bells. During a prolonged 
absence from his native village, the convent had been 
plundered and despoiled of its bells. This severed the 
tie which bound the old man to his home beneath the 
Appenines. He resolved to search the wide world 
over in hopes of hearing their sound once again. I 
tell what chanced in the graceful lines of Denis Florence 
McCarthy :— 



It 



A bark bound for Erin lay waiting : he enter'd like one in a 

dream, 
Fair winds in the fnll pnrple sails led him soon to the 

Shannon's broad stream. 



" Borne on the current, the vessel glides smoothly but swiftly 

away, 
By Carrigaholt, and by many a green sloping headland and 

bay. 
'Twixt Craloe's blue hills and green woods, and the soft snnny 

shores of Tervoe. 
And now the fair city of Limerick spreads ont on the broad 

banks below. 

" Still nearer and nearer approaching, the mariners look o'er 
the town. 

The old man sees nanght but St. Mary's square towers, with 
the battlements brown ; 

He listens — ^as yet all is silent, but now with a sudden sur- 
prise, 

A rich peal of melody rings from that tower through the clear 
sunny skies. 

*' One note is enough, his eyes moisten, his heart long so 
withered outswells ; 
He has found them — the sons of his labour — ^his musical, 
magical bells. 



The Munster Circuit. 245 

At each stroke all the bright past retnmeth, aronnd him the 

sweet Amo shines ; 
His children, his darling Francesca, his purple-clad trellis of 

vines. 

" Leaning forward he listens, he gazes, he hears in that won- 
derful strain 

The long-silent voices that mnrmnr, ' Oh, leave ns not, father, 
again.' 

'Tis granted, he smiles, his eye closes, the breath from his 
white lips hath fled. 

The father hath gone to his children, the old campanero is 
dead." 



246 The Munster Circuit. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Prom Limerick to Tralee. — ^Tralee. — Anecdotes of O'Connell, 
Kerry barrister ; Cork. — Curious account of statues in Cork. — 
Eminent Members of the Irish Bench, natives of Cork. 

From Limerick to Tralee there were many modes of 
proceeding, by coach, or by boat, to Tarbart, and thence 
by road to Tralee. Those members of the Bar who had 
plenty of time, and did not fear to encounter the motion 
of the water, enjoyed the fine scenery of the Shannon, 
and went by boat. The Shannon washes the banks of 
many handsome seats in the vicinity of Limerick, as it 
flows westward, and, at a distance of about thirty-five 
miles below the city, it expands into a noble estuary 
about twelve miles across. On the Clare side nestles 
the town of Kilrush ; on the opposite shore, where the 
counties of Kerry and Limerick approximate, is built 
the town of Tarbart. On this side is the village of 
Glyn, whence a yet flourishing branch of the once puis- 
sant house of Desmond takes its knightly title. Tar- 
bart lies about twenty -five miles from Tralee, and is well 
situated on the south bank of the Shannon. At the 
commencement of the present century it was an incon- 
siderable place, but increasing commerce has added to 
its wealth, increased its size, and improved its appear- 
ance. It has now expanded into a thriving town, and 
many handsome mansions have sprung up in its neigh- 



The Mtmster Circuit, 247 

bourhood. There was usually a pleasant party on the 
coach as we proceeded from Tarbart to Tralee, passing 
through Listowel, which gives the title of Earl to the 
family of Hare. The Earl does not reside in Kerry, 
where his estates are situated, but at his charming seat, 
Convamore, on the banks of the Blackwater, county 
Cork. 

Tbalee, the assize town of the county of Kerry, de- 
rives its name from the strand of the Leigh, a small 
river which discharges itself into Tralee Bay. This 
river is very deceptive ; for, small as it glides along in 
summer, when swollen by the mountain streams in 
winter, or after heavy rain, it is a source of danger and 
terror from its sweeping floods. In Queen Blizabeth^s 
time the Earl of Desmond, who claimed the title of 
Palatine of Kerry, denied the right of the Queen's 
judges to hold assizes here, and when the Lord Deputy 
proceeded to visit him in his castle at Tralee, Desmond 
attempted to capture him, as has been mentioned in our 
opening chapter. In 1579 the effort to hold assizes at 
l^ralee resulted in the murder of the two provincial 
judges sent there to execute justice in the Queen's name, 
together with all their attendants.^ A better order of 
things exists now, and no attempt at molestation awaits 
the Queen's judges on the Munster Circuit. The town 
of Tralee is picturesquely situated at the foot of a 
mountain range about a mile and a half from the bay. 
TTie site being low, subjects it to occasional floods, 
and these are sure to occur when the spring tides from 
the bay throw back the streams flowing into the Leigh 
from the mountains. The chief street is a straggling 

1 Lewis, " Top. Diet., Kerry." 



248 The Munster Circuit, 

one, over a mile in length, from which several smaller 
ones diverge. A pretty promenade is formed by the 
continuation of Denny Street, where the old castle of 
the Desmonds was placed. Clubs and reading-rooms 
are situated in this street, and considerable trade is car- 
ried on by the mercantile community. The court-house, 
near the east end of Denny Street, is a very fine build- 
ing. It replaced one much inferior in appearance and 
convenience. The entrance is beneath a Grecian portico, 
approached by a flight of spacious steps, surmounted 
by a well-designed pediment. The accommodation for 
the purposes of business, and rooms for the judges and 
the Bar, are well arranged. The gaol is a substantial 
building on the radiating principle, with accommodation 
for over two hundred prisoners. 

There is a racecourse at Tralee, where, in the year 
1805, a somewhat novel match took place. The articles 
for this match, we are told, had been drafted by counsel 
— ^no other than Daniel O'ConnelL 

I do not remember any other case in which the articles 
of the race were drawn by counsel, though questions 
respecting bets have often been subjects of litigation. 
The late Professor Barry once amused Judge Ball by an 
application on behalf of a man who was a dealer in 
horses and sugar-sticks. The incongruity of his avo- 
cations struck the judge. ^^ What a strange junction 
of trades 1 " said Judge Ball. 

" I see a close resemblance between horses and sugar- 
sticks,^^ said the witty barrister. 

^' In what way ? ^' inquired his lordship. 

'' The more you lick them the faster they go,^^ was 
the reply. 



^v^^^^mmmimafmesmi^^mmmmmmmmsi 



The Munster Circuit. 249 

The natives of Kerry who have gained celebrity at 
the Irish bar are not many, but of these one stands forth 
pre-eminent — ^Daniel O^Connell. For several years he 
went the Munster Circuit, and gained the reputation of 
being the best criminal lawyer in Europe. He was 
called to the bar in the troubled year of 1798, and 
having relations in almost every county in Munster, he 
naturally selected the Munster Circuit. He had great 
personal and physical advantages. A fine, well-deve- 
loped figure, clear blue eye, features expressive of keen 
intelligence, and a voice of great power, now rolling 
like tones of a grand organ, bursting forth in thunder, 
then dying away into deep pathos, rushing into rapid 
declamation, or, if engaged in denunciation, pouring 
forth epithets strong, fierce, and stinging. He was 
well versed in the technicalities of his profession, and 
soon his large practice, and the necessary reading it 
involved, made him a first-rate advocate. Then he pos- 
sessed a wonderful knowledge of his countrymen ; and 
who can compete with a Kerry man ? He was irresist- 
ably comic when a joke was needed, and no man was 
more sarcastic when vituperation was required. He 
was extremely vigilant, and never lost a case through 
inattention. 

It was, I believe, at Tralee he completely silenced an 
attorney who defied all gentle rebuke. This individual 
possessed a love for fighting not inferior to the Scotch 
terrier, that lost his appetite when he had ^^ naethlng 
to worrit.'^ '^ His person ^' we are told,* was indicative 
of his disposition. His face was bold, menacing, and 

" Madden's " Revelations," p. 3. 



250 The Munster Circuit. 

scornful in its expression. He had stamped upon him 
the defiance and resolution of a pugilist. Upon either 
temple there stood erect a lock of hair, which no brush 
could smooth down. These locks looked like horns, 
and added to the combative expression of his counte- 
nance. He was fiery in his nature, excessively spirited, 
and ejaculated, rather than spoke, to an audience ; his 
speeches consisting of a series of short, hissing, splut- 
tering sentences, by no means devoid of talent of a 
certain kind. Add to this, that the gentleman was an 
Irish attorney, and an Orangeman, and the reader may 
easily suppose that he was a *^ character.^^ 

Upon the occasion referred to this irrepressible attor- 
ney gave O'Connell great annoyance. He interrupted 
O^Connell several times ; he improperly addressed the 
witnesses as they mounted to the witness chair, and, 
altogether, was quite unruly. The counsel engaged 
with O^Connell tried to keep him quiet ; more than once 
the judge severely rebuked his improper interference, 
it was all in vain j up he would start, like a Jack-in -a- 
box — ^hiss out some remark which was sure to provoke 
O^Connell. At last, when O'Connell was pressing a 
hostile witness with a vital question, which the witness 
was seeking to evade answering, and this individual 
again interfered, as if for the purpose of annoyance, 
O'Connell, losing all patience, scowling at this man with 
a stern countenance, shouted in a voice of thunder, '^ Sit 
down, you audacious, snarling, pugnacious ram-cat.'^ 
We are told the words were no sooner uttered than 
every one in court saw the truth of his words. Judge, 
jury, counsel, attorneys, were convulsed with laughter. 
The judge extremely enjoyed the happy epithets, which 



The Munster Circuit, 251 

• 

completely suited the combative attorney, who gasped 
with suppressed rage. He bore the sobriquet of Ram- 
Cat for the rest of his natural life. 

When O^Connell was first called to the bar. Limerick 
was then much disturbed by Whiteboys, and he had 
usually the dock to defend, one of the officials in the 
gaol of that city engaging him for that purpose. The 
other counties also felt the benefit of his talents ; and 
throughout the whole circuit he was pre-eminently the 
prisoners* counsel. When he became distinguished as 
a nisi prius lawyer, he was not able to devote as much 
of his time to criminal business as formerly ; but so 
long as he would accept these briefe no one else would 
be retained. 

Among other members of the circuit, natives of Kerry, 
George Blake Hickson, Q.O. ; the late John Leahy, 
Q.C., chairman for some years for the county of Lime- 
rick; Thomas Gallway; J. C. Neligan, Q.O., the highly 
respected County Court Judge of Westmeath ; George 
Raymond ; Rickard O^ConneU ; Hewson ; Ponsonby, — 
occur to my mind. 

Our route to Cork usually induced us to visit, 
and re-visit, the lovely Lakes of Ealferney, arid the 
source of the Lee. All this scenery has been re- 
peatedly described by competent pens, but nowhere is 
the scenery of the Lee better described than in the 
beautifully written account of the Lee in the pages of 
the Dublin University Magazine,' the production 
of one whose writings confer alike instruction by 
their learning, and delight by the grace and charm of 

» Yol. xxxi. p. 626. 



252 The Munster Circuit, 

a perfect style. To these pages we recommend our 
readers. 

CoEK, the last and chief town on the Munster Circuit, 
is called from the corcagh, or fen, on which it is built. 
The principal street, Patrick Street, is built over a branch 
of the River Lee which formerly intersected the city, 
like the canals of Venice ; and now, in seasons of flood, 
the river asserts its power, and converts the streets into 
miniature canals. There has been very considerable 
improvement in the appearance of the capital of Mun- 
ster of late years. In Patrick Street, the statue of the 
Apostle of Temperance reminds the citizens of the be- 
nefits conferred by that humble friar, a fact which the 
votaries of Bacchus seem very much disposed to ignore. 
At the end of Patrick Street, to the left of the Grand 
Parade, Great George's Street branches to the right, 
and the court-house is built at the end of Great George's 
Street. The splendid Corinthian columns supporting 
the portico won the applause of Lord Macaulay, who 
declared " they would do honour to Palladio.'' There 
are two courts, with rooms for the Bar, and spacious 
grand jury rooms, and long passages, with several offices 
and apartments. In the county grand jury room is a 
wooden statue of King William III., which, according 
to Mr. Windele, was originally intended for his father- 
in-law, James II. This statue, on the defeat of the 
Stuarts, was first decapitated, and then hidden away 
beneath the stairs of the old court-house, called the 
King's Old Castle. When this building was being re- 
paired, in 1806, the mutilated statue of King James 
was found, taken from beneath the stairs, placed in the 
grand jury room, and the headless trunk perfected with 



The Munster Circuit. 253 

the Aead of William III. From this room it was removed 
to the grand jury room in the present court-house in 
1836. Statues seem not much in favour in Cork. The 
statue of Admiral Lord Hawke, which was ordered by 
the Corporation, was left on the artistes hands, and pur- 
chased by the Marquis of Thomond. His lordship 
placed it near the battery at Bostellan, with its back to 
the ungrateful city. It is now in the hall of that noble 
mansion, amid a collection of weapons and curiosities 
amassed by the present estimable owner. Dr. Wise. 

A statue voted by the Corporation of Cork to Lord 
Chatham, was also ignominiously treated. His lordship 
so lauded the city and citizens for their support to his 
views of state policy, that, in a fit of enthusiasm, they 
voted him a statue, and the freedom of the city in a 
gold box. But on some occasion, when the conduct of 
. the great statesman was not such as the Corporation 
approved of, and Cork was referred to as censuring him, 
he is stated to have said, '^ Quote Cork against me, 
forsooth 1 What do I care for what is done in Cork, 
that refuge for pirates, that spawning-ground for smug- 
glers, and prolific nursery of privateers ? '* These strong 
terms so incensed the citizens that they stowed away 
the statue in a wooden box, from which it has recently 
emerged, and now adorns the Cork Athenaeum. 

The environs of Cork afforded the members of the 
Munster Circuit many agreeable tours — to Blarney, Cove 
now Queenstown, the lovely Carrigaline river, Rostel- 
lan, Aste Ferry, &c. These localities are so familiar to 
my Munster readers, that it would be waste of time to 
attempt any description of them. The Bar Mess in my 
time was held at the Imperial Hotel, and the exceUent 



254 The Munster Circuit, 

fare provided for us, and the attention of the proprietors 
and waiters, evinced their gratitude for our preference. 
In the neighbouring South Mall the judges had their 
lodgings, and they too were well catered for. 

I have now gone through the circuit towns, and pro- 
ceed to mention some of the natives of Cork who have 
gained merited distinction in our legal history : — 

Sir Richard Cox, Lord Chancellor of Ireland, was bom 
at Bandon, in the county of Cork, March 25th, 1650. 

Alan Brodrick, Lord Midleton, Lord Chancellor of 
Ireland, was bom at Midleton, in the county of Cork, 
about 1660. 

Barry Telverton, Lord Avonmore, Lord Chief Baron 
of the Exchequer, bom at Kanurk, county Cork^ in 
1736. 

Hugh Carleton, Lord Carleton, Chief Justice of the 
Common Pleas, born at Cork in 1737. 

John Philpot Curran, Master of the Rolls, bom at 
Newmarket, county Cork, in 1750. 

Joseph Devonsher Jackson, Judge of the * Common 
Pleas, bom in Cork. 

David Richard Pigot, Chief Baron of the Exchequer^ 
bom in Kilworth, county of Cork. 

Rickard Deasy, Lord Justice of Appeals, born in 
Clonakilty, county of Cork. 

Hedge Eyre Chatterton, Vice Chancellor, bom in 
Cork. 

Edward Sullivan, Master of the Rolls, born in Mallow, 
county Cork. 

Robert Richard Warren, Judge of the Probate Court, 
was, I believe, bom in county Cork ; at all events he 
belongs to a Cork family. 



The Munster Circuit, 255 

Mounteford Longfield, Jadge of the Landed Estates 
Court, born in county Cork. 

John PitzHenry Townshend, Judge of the Admiralty 
Court, born in county Cork. 

These are some of the natives of the Yorkshire of 
Ireland who have attained the dignity of the bench. 
There are a number of others, natives of the province 
of Munster, now winning fame and fortune at the Bar, 
to whom, I make no doubt, the future historian of the 
circuit will turn, and mention as adding to the illustrious 
men it has been my province to enumerate. 

I now resume the detail of the business of the circuit 
for the early part of the present century. 



4 

( 

I 



256 The Munster Circuit. 



CHAPTER XYIII. 

Trials and Judges of Assizes. — Courts Martial in 1798. — Judge 
Mayne and Charles Kendal Bushe. — Sir William Cusack 
Smith. — Judge Fletcher. — Lord Norbury and his brother 
Judges. — Eetort from the Bar. — ^Anecdotes. — Able Letter 
from Sir Arthur Wellesley (Duke of Wellington). 

The trials by court-martial during the year 1 798 were 
constant. On the 6th of August of that year, one 
composed of officers of rank assembled in the- Council 
Chamber of Limerick, for the trial of Horatio Towns- 
hend Orpen, and Bichard Orpen, Esqs., of the county 
of Kerry, charged with aiding and assisting in the 
rebellion. The prosecution was conducted by Harry 
Deane Grady, with Messrs. Casey and Going, in- 
structed by Mr. Meredyth Monsell. The prisoners 
were assisted also by counsel. They had Messrs. Hart- 
well, Jeremiah Keller, John and Stephen Dickson, and 
for their attorney Mr. Henry Hassett. 

The case haying wholly failed to establish the 
charge, the prisoners were acquitted. It is most pro- 
bable this charge against members of a respectable 
family was instigated by private malice, as was found 
to be often the case in those troubled times. 

The Munster Spring Circuit of 1806 was presided 
over by Judge Mayne and Charles Kendal Bushe, 




The Munster Circuit 257 

then Solicitor-General. Of Judge Mayne there is 
not much to narrate. He is chiefly remembered by 
the remark of the facetious Jerry Keller, who, on 
learning that Edward Majme, in 1805, was appointed 
a judge of the Common Pleas in the room of Judge 
Finucane, deceased, went into that court to look at 
him. The wit of the Munster Circuit having stared 
for a short time at the newly-made judge, was over- 
heard saying, with a sigh, "Ah, Mayne, your gravity 
has placed you up there, while -my levity keeps me 
down here.'' But of his associate on the Munster 
Circuit, there is, indeed much to record ; yet as the 
name and fame of Charles Ejsmdal Bushe have been 
already abundantly related,* I must try, in my remarks 
respecting him, to avoid going over beaten ground. 
His early career was indicative of future eminence. 
He was the eldest son of the Bev. Thomas Bushe and 
Katherine Doyle, sister of Major-General Doyle, Go- 
vernor of Guernsey and Colonel of the Connaught 
Bangers. The future Chief Justice of Ireland was 
bom at Kilmurry, in the county of Kilkenny, in 1767, 
and entered Trinity College in his fifteenth year. His 
career in our University was brilliant, and deserves 
to be remembered. He swept away all the honour^ in 
science and classics, and gained a scholarship in 1 785, 
with eight first best marks. The best proof of his 
ability is evidenced by the names of those who were 
the competitors over whom he triumphed — Plunket, 
Graves, Tone, Magee. In the College Historical So- 
ciety, Bushe acquired that oratorical excellence which 

1 Fide " The Irish Bar." 



258 The Munster Circuit. 

gained him the eulogy of a competent judge of public 
speakers. Of his talents Lord Brougham says, — 
" His power of narration has not, perhaps, been 
equalled. Perfect simplicity, but united with eloquence 
— a lucid arrangement and unshaken connexion of all 
the facts — ^the constant introduction of the most pic- 
turesque expressions, but never as ornaments — these, 
the great qualities of narration, accomplish its great 
end and purpose; they place the story or the scene 
before the hearer or the reader as if he witnessed the 
reality. It is unnecessary to add that the temperate 
and chaste and even subdued tone of the whole is un- 
varied and unbroken ; but such praise belongs to every 
part of the great speaker^s oratory. The utmost that 
partial criticism could do to find a fault, was to praise 
the suavity of the orator at the expense of his force.^^* 
John Kemble described him as the greatest actor o£E 
the stage. 

He was called to the Bar in 1790, and for some time 
devoted his attention to literature and politics. He 
threw himself heart and soul into that Spartan band 
iiiat resisted the waves of corruption, as they surged 
onwards to swamp the liberties of Ireland. His family 
were long known among the foremost of the friends of 
popular measures. Many had seats in the Irish House 
of Commons, and, from the days of the Revolution to 
the Union, were always ranged on the side of their 
fatherland. In 1775 Grervase Parker Bushe, then one 
of the Parliamentary leaders, took charge of the Per- 
petual Mutiny Bill, and the carrying of this measure 

2 Statesmen of the time of Greorge III. 



The Munster Circuit. 259 

was in no small degree due to his talents and his 
patriotism. Incited by such example, Charles Kendal 
Bushe, when in 1797 he was elected member for the 
borough of Callan, county Kilkenny, at once took his 
stand in opposition to the Castle party, and his sur- 
passing eloquence soon placed him in a prominent 
position in the House. The Irish Government were 
most anxious to enlist him in oflSce, and in 1799, 
when his professional prospects and political ability 
were alike renowned, he was visited at his house 
in Baggot Street by two emissaries from the Viceroy, 
Lord Cornwallis, who, in the name of his Excellency, 
offered him the office of the Master of the Rolls, 
or that of law officer of the Crown. As Mr. Bushe 
was a decided foe to the then impending measure of 
legislative Union, he declined this flattering offer in 
courteous terms. He wrote as well as spoke against a 
measure he believed likely to be prejudicial to Ireland, 
and his pamphlet ^^ Cease your Funning ^' is lively, yet 
forcible in the argument. It reminded Lord Brougham 
of the satires of Swift 

It is highly creditable to the British Government 
that when the victory over Ireland was won, and the 
Union an accomplished fact, the ministers did not allow 
resentment against the bitterest and most powerful anta- 
gonists to serve as a barrier against their professional 
advancement. The Right Hon. George Ponsonby, a 
resolute anti-Unionist, was appointed Lord Chancellor 
of Ireland in 1805 ; Curran, also anti-Unionist, became 
Master of the Rolls; Saurin and Bushe respectively 
Attorney and Solicitor- General ; and Plunket was soon 
employed by the Crown. The eminence of Bushe at 

s 2 



26o The Mtmster Circuit. 

the Bar was very much owing to his industry. He 
carefully prepared his speeches, and his tact and judg- 
ment were so great, that he seemed always carried away 
by his feelings, when he really was only speaking on 
behalf of his client. His expressions were always 
elegant, often forcible, yet their arrangement covered 
the weak parts of his case ; and, if he was betrayecl by 
his zeal into the use of language he had not pre- 
arranged, he managed so to amalgamate the extem- 
poraneous with the prepared, that no one could detect 
the fusion. 

While acting as judge on the Munster Circuit, he, 
for the first time, gave the Munster Bar indications of 
that ability as a judge, which in after-years distin- 
guished him as Chief of the King's Bench. At Ennis, 
Limerick, Tralee, and Cork, there were many impor- 
tant cases tried before him, both on the civil as well 
as the criminal side of the court, and the rulings of 
the Solicitor-General gave very general satisfac- 
tion. 

When the admissibility or rejection of evidence was 
to be disposed of, the Associate Judge showed very 
considerable knowledge of the rules which regulate 
that important branch of common law ; and when it 
became his province to charge the juries, then his 
logical mind and remarkable powers of narration came 
forth in all their power and gracefulness. The Munster 
Bar — ^lately acctistomed for a series of circuits, to 
the platitudes of Judge Day, the prosy charges of 
Baron McClelland or Prime Serjeant Browne,* — were 

' Prime Serjeant Browne was the last who held this rank. 
On his death, in 1805; Moore was appointed First Serjeant. 



The Munster Circuit 261 

delighted with the lucid and orderly manner in which 
the Solicitor-General presented the facts, as proved by 
evidence, to the jury. The cases were often com- 
plicated, the evidence often conflicting, titles to lands 
perplexing, and the links of evidence of the slightest. 
Under the perspicuous arrangement of the Associate 
Judge, the chaotic mass soon appeared to form a clear 
and logical sequence ; everything of importance was put 
in its proper light ; every irrelevant or unreliable piece 
of evidence estimated accordingly ; and the jury, thus 
assisted, seldom failed to bring in a satisfactory verdict. 

To the members of the Munster Circuit the Solicitor- 
General was linked by many ties of association and 
friendship. With some he had fought the battle of his 
country^s legislative freedom ; and, though they were de- 
feated, the bonds of friendship were not weakened by 
that result. With others, he had long professional and 
social acquaintance, and these invited him among 
them with that pleasure which kindred tastes create 
and preserve. Bushe was a delightful companion. He 
had a fund of anecdote which he freely communicated, 
and the wits of the Munster Bar contributed their 
quota in return. Lysaght and Keller might have pro- 
fited by one trait in the Solicitor-General ; for while 
they would not scruple to say a sharp word if it raised 
a laugh, he was careful not to utter a syllable which 
could inflict pain. No one was ever more studiously 
free from malignity or personal vanity. 

As it is not my province to refer to this great judge 
more, save as in connexion with the Munster Circuit, 
I must only further mention that he went the Munster 
Spring Circuit in 1815 as Associate to Judge Moore ; 



262 The Miinster Circuit. 

again the Spring Circuifc of 1817 as companion to Judge 
Mayne; the Spring Circuit of 1818 with Judge Moore; 
the Summer Circuit of 1820 with Serjeant Joy; and 
the Spring Circuit of 1821 with Baron Pennefather. 

The Solicitor-General was raised to the Chief- 
Justiceship of the King^s Bench, on the resignation of 
Lord Downes in 1822. He never went the Munster 
Circuit after becoming Chief Justice. Bound to Kil- 
kenny by ties of affection and property, he did not 
care to wander far from his ancestral home, and passed 
most of his vacations at Kilmurry. He continued to 
preside over the Queen's Bench for many years, and, 
on his retirement, was succeeded by the Right Hon. 
Francis Blackburne. Chief Justice Bushe died in 1843, 
sincerely and deservedly lamented. 

In the Spring Circuit of 1807 the judges of assize 
for the Munster Circuit were Baron William Cusack 
Smith and the Hon. Judge Fletcher. It would not 
be easy to meet with two men more dissimilar in many 
respects. While Baron William Smith was courteous 
and genial in his manner. Judge Fletcher was re- 
markable for a brusque demeanour, nearly approach' 
ing to rudeness. A brief notice of these two judges, 
who have long passed away, may be desirable 

Sir William Cusack Smith, Baron of the Exchequer, 
was born on the 23rd of January, 1768. He was the 
son of a judge and father of a judge ; his father. Sir 
Michael Smith, having been first a Baron of the Exche- 
quer, from 1793 to 1801. He was appointed Master 
of the Rolls, where he sat until 1806, when he was 
succeeded by the great ornament of the Munster Cir- 
cuit, the Right Hon. John Philpot Curran. Sir Wil- 



The Munster Circuit. 263 

liam Smith was called to tlie Irish Bar about the year 
1790, and in 1795 received the silk gown of King's 
Counsel. He then entered the Irish House of Com- 
mons, and continued a member of Parliament until the 
time of the Union. In that year, 1800, Mr. William 
Smith was appointed Solicitor-General, and it appears 
that the law officers in those days went circuit as 
judges; for in 1801 a very singular occurrence took 
place — father and son both going circuit as judges— =- 
Baron Smith and his son, the Solicitor-General.* On 
the 27th December, 1801, the Solicitor-General be- 
came a Baron of the Exchequer, on the resignation of 
Baron Metge. On the death of his father. Sir Michael 
Smith, in 1308, the baron succeeded to the title of 
baronet, and assumed by sign manual, upon the de- 
cease of his mother, the name and* arms of Cusack. 
He married Hester, eldest daughter of Thomas Berry, 
Esq., of Eglish Castle, in the King's County.* Sir 
William Smith was a very accomplished man, fond of 
society and of sitting up late, which often made him 
very late in court. His charges have been collected 
and published. One extract must suffice to give a speci- 
men of his style. Alluding to the cordiality of feeling 
among country gentlemen produced and cemented by 

* " Barke's Peerage." 

^ '* The second aon of this marriage was the late Master of 
the Eolls, the Bight Hon. Thomas Berry Cusack Smith ; he 
was a great lawyer, and an excellent bnt somewhat irritable 
judge. From the number of initial letters to his name, T. B. 
C. Smith, he was frequently called "Alphabet Smith," and, 
evincing some deficiency in literature, Archbishop Whately said 
" he was a man of more letters than learning." 



264 The Munster Circuit 

partaking of the same field sports, when charging the 
grand jury at the Carlow summer assizes in 1833, Sir 
William said, — ''I would celebrate the fox-cover, the 
racecourse, the preserve, as so many Runnymedes if 
we could sign there the great charter of national con- 
ciliation. I would cheer the steeplechase or the horse- 
race if concord was the latent goal, and on the flag of 
the winning-post were inscribed Harmony and National 
Conciliation/' 

JuDGB Fletcher was originally destined for the 
medical profession, of which his father was an eminent 
practitioner. He was called to the Irish Bar in 1778, 
and had been such a diligent student, that few lawyers 
of many years' standing equalled him in profound legal 
learning. Yet his great knowledge remained for some 
years unsought, and he experienced that hope deferred 
making the heart sick, arising from roaming the hall 
term after term without briefs, or going from one 
assize town to another on circuit without practice. As 
I always thought that much of Dr. Johnson's surliness 
was owing to the terrible privations he had endured in 
his battle for fame, so it is very probable Judge 
Fletcher's mind grew irritable, his temper soured, 
and his manner rude, in consequence of the want of 
encouragement afforded him in these early days. Sir 
Jonah Barrington says, " He was a clever man, an ex- 
cellent lawyer, but with a surly temper, combined with 
a kind heart and an honest, free-spirited principle, 
which never forsook him either in private life or as a 
public functionary.^ 



ii^ 



Personal Sketches by Sir Jonah Barrington, vol. i. 



i^Tmmmmmmmmmffmmmmi^mm^acfi^^'mmw'w^mmmmmwmf^^^mmf^^^^mwm^^wifsasiawmf^p^^Kmmmmmmmstmmmi'i^mBmpe 



The Munster Circuit 265 

There is, perliaps, no profession in which business 
comes — ^when it does come — ^more rapidly than the 
Bar. Lord Mansfield declared, in his case there was 
no gradation between nothing at all and 2000/. a year. 
I remember the present universally-respected Baron 
Fitzgerald without any court practice, and at a bound 
sharing the leading practice of the Court of Chancery 
with — and the worthy opponent of — Mr. Christian. A 
distinguished argument in the Court of King^s Bench 
in 1782, when the advocate overpowered a corrupt 
Bench resolved to crush him, stamped upon Mr. 
Fletcher the mark of professional as well as public 
approbation, and thenceforth his fortune was assured. 
The Irish House of Commons opened its portals to 
the champion of popular rights, and during Lord Fitz- 
William's short-lived administration of the Viceroyalty 
of Ireland in 1795, Mr. Fletcher was nominated a 
King's Counsel. Though a consistent anti-Unionist, 
his political exertions were no bar to his promotion. 
In 1806 he was added to the Common Pleas judges, 
then comprising Chief Justice Lord Norbury, with 
Judges Fox and Johnson. Shiel, in his ^^ Legal and 
Political Sketches,'' gives an amusing description of 
Lord Norbury and his yoke-fellows ; and as they oc- 
casionally went the Munster Circuit, I may introduce 
the extract hero. '^ Judge Fletcher's characteristic was 
moroseness,' rather than irritability; but he had an 
honest vehemence and impetuosity about him which, 
whenever his sense of propriety was .violated, he could 

t " Master 0*Dwyer told me the judge had a ooniitTy-hotise 
called Montrose, which the wits of Dublin, in allusion to his 
temper, always called Morose** 



266 The Munster Circuit. 

not restrain. When Lord Norbary was giving judg- 
ment (if the olla podrida which he served up for the 
general entertainment can be so called)^ the spectacle 
derived from the aspect of his brother judges furnished 
a vast accession of amusement. Judge Fletcher^ in- 
dignant at all the absurdity which was thrown up by 
Lord Norbury, and which bespattered the Bench^ 
began expressing his disgust by the character of 
bilious severity which spread over his countenance^ of 
which the main characteristic was a fierce sourness 
and a scornful discontent. Judge Johnson^ on the 
other hand^ endeavoured to conceal his anger^ and 
placing his elbows on the bench^ and thrusting his 
clenched hands upon his mouthy tried to stifle the in- 
dignation with which, however, it was obvious he was 
swelling. After a while a growl was heard from Judge 
Fletcher, while Judge Johnson responded with a groan. 
But undeterred by any such gentle admonition, their in- 
comparable brother, with desperate intrepidity, held 
on his way. Judge Fletcher had a habit, when exces- 
sively displeased, of rocking himself in his seat ; and as 
he was of considerable bulk, his swinging, which was 
known to be an intimation of his augmenting anger, was 
familiar to the Bar. As Lord Norbury advanced, the 
oscillations, accompanied with a deeper growling, de- 
scribed the greater segment of a circle, and shook the 
whole bench ; while Judge Johnson, with his shaggy 
brows bent and contracted over his face, and with his 
eyes flashing with passion, used, with an occasional 
exclamation of mingled indignation and disgust, to 
turn himself violently round. Still on Lord Norbury 
went, until at length Judge Fletcher, in his pendulous 



The Munster Circuit, 267 

vibrations, came into actual collision with him on 6ne 
side, and Judge Johnson, by his averted shrug, hit 
him upon the shoulder on the other, when, awakened 
by the simultaneous shock, his lordship gave a start, 
and looking round the Bar, who were roaring with 
laughter at the whole proceedings, gave vent to his 
feelings in a succession of puffs/' 

Lord Norbury, like other justices, often met a re- 
sponse which he did not expect. When driving with a 
barrister named Parsons, they passed an untenanted 
gibbet, and the Chief Justice, turning to his com- 
panion, asked, ^^ If that gallows had its due. Parsons, 
where would you be ?'' 

*^ Driving by myself, my lord," was the ready 
answer. 

Lord Norbury was not long without repaying Parsons. 
When the barrister was arguing before him, the loud 
braying of a donkey disturbed the court. 

'^ Sit down, Mr. Parsons,'^ chuckled the Chief Jus- 
tice ; " one at a time, if you please.^' 

There are several amusing anecdotes current of 
Parsons. A barrister, whose son did not bear a high 
character, and had been lately robbed, meeting the 
former, said, " Parsons, did you hear of my son's rob- 
bery?'' 

" No, my dear friend," replied Parsons. " Do tell 
me. Whom did he rob ? " 

A country squireen, who was suspected of being a 
rebel, wishing to clear his character, said to Parsons, 
" It was rumoured that I sympathized with disloyalty, 
but such is quite untrue. It is well known, sir, I have 
a stake in the country.^ 



ii 



268 The Munster Circuit 

'' Faith, if you have, there's a pike at the end of 
it/' said Parsons. 

Both Baron Smith and Judge Fletcher were well 
acquainted with the sad state of Ireland at this period 
(1807), and frequently, in addressing the grand jurors, 
sought to impress upon them the great powers for 
doing good which resident landlords possess. These 
judges were uncommonly severe upon all who, taking 
advantage of their position of grand jurors, were parties 
to what was then known as grand jury jobs, and woe 
betide any magistrate or landlord who came within 
the lash of either judge, after seeking to wrong or op- 
press his inferior ! No rank, no station sheltered the 
offender from condemnation and punishment. 

The counties forming the Munster Circuit were in a 
very disturbed state in the year 1808, which caused 
the Irish Government much anxiety. Sir Arthur Wel- 
lesley (afterwards Duke of Wellington) was then at 
Cork, organizing a force for the Peninsula. He ad- 
dressed a letter to the commanding officer at Limerick, 
so fiill of excellent practical suggestions, and display- 
ing such wonderful sagacity and knowledge of the 
Munster Circuit, and those best qualified to give ad- 
vice on emergencies, that I think it merits a place in 
our history. It is directed to '^ Brigadier-General Lee, 
at Limerick/' 

'' Oorh, 7th July, 1808. 

^' My dbae Sir, — According to the desire which you 
expressed in the conversation I had with you at Lord 
Harrington's, I proceed to give you my opinion on the 
nature and circumstances of the command which you 
are about to exercise in the county of Limerick. In, 



The Munster Circuit 269 

the first place, I must point out to you that the 
situation of a general officer commanding in a district 
in Ireland is very much of the nature of a deputy- 
governor of a county or a province. He becomes 
jiecessarily charged with the preservation of the peace 
of the district placed under his command; and the 
Government ^ust confide in his reports and opinions 
for the adoption of many measures relating solely to the 
civil administration of the country. From these cir- 
cumstances, it is obvious that it is the duty of every 
general officer to make himself acquainted with the 
local circumstances of his district, and with the cha- 
racters of the different individuals residing within it, in 
order that he may decide for himself according to the 
best of his judgment and information, and that he may 
not be misled by others. This duty will be the more 
obvious by a consideration of certain circumstances 
which exist in many parts of Ireland. It frequently 
happens that disturbances exist only in a small degree, 
and probably only partially, and that the civil power 
is fully adequate to get the better of them. At the 
same time, the desire to let ,a building to Government 
for a barrack — ^the anxiety to have troops in the 
county, either on account of the increased consump- 
tion of the necessaries of life, or because of the in- 
creased security which they would give to the particular 
part of the country — ^and cause a general rise in the 
value and rent of land which probably at that moment 
might he out of lease ; or in some instances the desire 
to have the yeomen called out on permanent duty — 
occasions a representation that the disturbances are 
much more serious than the facts would warrant. Upon 



2/0 The Munster Circuit. 

these occasions letter after letter is written to the 
commanding officer and to the Government ; the same 
fact is repeated through many different channels ; and 
the result of an inquiry is generally, that the outrage 
complained of is by no means of the nature or of the 
extent which has been stated. The obvious remedy 
for this evil, and that which is generally resorted to, 
is to call for information on oath of the transactions 
which are complained of. But this remedy is not cer- 
tain, for it frequently happens that the informations on 
oath are equally false with the original representation. 
The general officer then has no remedy, excepting by 
his acquaintance and communication with the magis- 
trates and gentlemen of the county, to acquire a know- 
ledge of characters, and to become acquainted with all 
the circumstances which occur. It frequently happens 
that the people who commit outrages and disturbances 
have reason to complain ; but in my opinion that is not 
a subject for the consideration of a general officer. He 
must aid in the preservation of the peace of the country, 
and in support of the law ; and he who breaks the law 
must be considered in the wrong, whatever may have 
been the nature of the provocation he may have 
received. 

" In respect of the gentlemen of the county in which 
you are posted, I recommend you to attend particu- 
larly to the Lord Chief Baron O'Grady ; you will find 
him well informed of the transactions of the county of 
Limerick, and well acquainted with the characters, and 
disposed to assist your judgment. I also recommend 
to your attention Mr. Dickson, the late High Sheriff 
of the county, and Colonel Vereker, the member for 



The Munster Circuit, 271 . 

the city of Limerick. There may be, and certainly 
are, other gentlemen in the county of Limerick on 
whose information you may depend. But I have re- 
quested Mr, Traill, through whom I send this letter, 
to apprize you confidentially of the names of those 
whom you ought to consult. 

" Believe me, &c., 

'* Arthur Wellbslby."' 

• Lenehan's " HUtory of Limerick," pp. 123-4. 



2/2 The Munster Circuit. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Gallant defence of Highfort by Sir John Purcell. — Anecdotes 

of him. 

At the Summer Assizes of Cork, in 1811, Maurice 
Noonan was indicted for that he feloniously and bur- 
glariously did break and enter, with intent to steal 
from the dwelling-house of Highfort the goods and 
chattels of one John Purcell in the said dwelling-house, 
then and being, and that the said Maurice Noonan then 
and there, in the said dwelling-house, in and upon the 
said John Purcell, in the said dwelling-house, feloniously 
did make an assault with intent to kill and murder 
John Purcell, against, &c. 

The case was one of considerable interest, and 
attracted much public attention, and when the fol- 
lowing facts were elicited on the trial, we cease to be 
surprised at this. 

Highfort, the house in which the burglary was com- 
mitted, lies in a secluded place between Charleville and 
Kanturk, in the county of Cork. This was the dwelling 
of John Purcell, Esq., a gentlemau past the middle life, 
in the year 1811. He was a man of somewhat peculiar 
habits. Though much employed as a land ag^nt and 
receiver of rents over extensive landed estates in his 
neighbourhood, he attended fairs and other places of 



The Munster Circuit. 273 

public resort, where he was sure to meet the tenants, 
and take from them their various rents without ever 
making any entry as to the parties who paid him. He 
gave the tenants memorandums of the sum paid, which 
he placed in a bag, and never gave a stamped receipt, 
though he charged for the stamps when accounting 
with his principal. He acted as agent for the Earl of 
Egmont, and for landed proprietors, and others, and was 
always most accurate in accounting for the rents. His 
family consisted of himself, his daughter-in-law, and 
her little child. His domestics were two maids and a 
servant-man. Though his house was in a lonely spot 
in the country, he had no fears of any one seeking to 
injure him, and considered himself highly popular and 
perfectly safe. He was soon undeceived in this respect. 

He had a fatiguing day collecting rents on the 11th 
March, 1811, and it was long past dinner and tea-time 
as he rode home hungry and tired. Some cold meat 
and bread formed his solitary supper, which was served 
in his bedroom, and he told the servant-man not to sit 
up, as he need not remove the tray till next morning. 

Mr. Purcell's bedroom was adjoining the parlour, on 
the ground floor. A door communicated between the 
rooms, but this had been nailed up, and some of the 
parlour furniture, chairs and tables, placed against it. 
There was access to the bedroom from a passage, which 
was preferred to going through the parlour to the bed- 
chamber. Having partaken of his supper, Mr. Purcell 
undressed and retired to rest. About one o'clock he 
was aroused by a noise, as if some one approached the 
windows of the adjoining parlour. He listened. The 
windows of the parlour were pushed in, and several 

T 



274 ^^^^ Munster Circuit, 

men climbed through. As well as he could judge, as 
6ach man came down with a fall on the carpet, he 
reckoned that' about fourteen men had entered his house. 
Mr. Purcell resolved to ascertain what they came 
for, and to defend his house. He arose, but was dis- 
heartened when he recollected all his weapons were in 
his little office, out of his reach, and the only implement 
available was the knife he used at supper, which lay on 
the table beside him. He found this knife before anv 
attempt to enter his bedchamber was made. When 
thus armed, he heard the table placed before the nailed 
door dragged away, and the long-disused door was 
pulled open. Through the space the round, full, silvery 
moon looked brightly in from the open parlour win- 
dows, and while Mr. Purcell stood, shrouded in dark- 
ness, he saw a number of men, many of them bearing 
fire-arms, with blackened faces, as if for concealment, 
crowding the room. Purcell, knife in hand, stood 
motionless by the side of the open door until one of 
the burglars entered his bedroom. Swift and true, 
the blade of the knife was plunged into the intruder's 
body, and the robber reeled back amidst his comrades, 
swearing " he was killed." Another took his place to 
receive a like stab, and he too fell back, crying out 
^^ Jie was done for.'' Then some one who seemed to act 
with authority called out ^^ Fire ! ^' and the loud report 
of a short gun, or blunderbuss, was the reply. Luckily 
it did no more harm than lodging a brace of balls and a 
number of slugs in the opposite wall, while, almost ere 
the smoke cleared away, the intrepid Mr. Purcell struck 
the marksman with his knife and sent him also wounded 
to his companions. A rush was then made, which Mr. 



The Munster Circuit, 275 

•Purcell had not counted on. He was resolved, how- 
ever, not to flinch, and struck a fourth robber, when he 
received a blow on the head and found himself tightly 
grappled. The floor, rendered slippery by the blood 
so copiously shed, made footing insecure, so in the 
struggle Mr. Purcell and his adversary both fell. Still 
thrusting with his knife, the owner found it did 
not act as effectually as formerly, and, on passing his 
finger along the blade, was dismayed to find it was 
bent near the point. As he lay struggling with his 
foe, he tried hard to straighten the blade, and soon the 
hold of his assailant grew relaxed ; he lay dead. This 
man carried a sword, which Mr. Purcell gladly seized as 
a substitute for the now useless knife. The gang, 
finding so many of their party killed or wounded, began 
to bear away the bodies on chairs through the parlour 
windows ; the darkness in the bedroom prevented their 
seeing they were only opposed by one man. When all 
were gone, Mr. Purcell aroused his servant-man, who 
lay in his bed and never came to assist his master in 
this terrible conflict. The man was loudly reproached 
for his dastardly conduct. The daughter-in-law and 
child were placed in safety for the remainder of the 
night, but the attack was not renewed. 

Next morning Highfort could not be accounted 
lonely. The news of the attack and gallant defence 
spread far and wide, and men of all ranks, creeds, and 
classes came to offer their expressions of abhorrence at 
the attack, and of admiration at the courage, bravery, 
and skill with which Mr. Purcell had acted. Instant 
search was made for the perpetrators. Mr. Purcell 
was sure he recognized one named Maurice Noonan, 

T 2 



276 The Munster Circuit, 

who lived in his neighbourhood. He went himself to 
Noonan's house; beneath Noonan's bed was the gun 
fired the night before. Mr. Purcell identified it — a 
short gun with the butt broken oflf, and the barrel 
secured by a cord. This, of course, caused Noonan's 
arrest, and he admitted ^' Mr. Purcell had like to do for 
him." It transpired the party consisted of nine men, 
all armed. Two were killed in the afiray, and three 
severely wounded. Some became panicstruck during 
the conflict, and fled, as they believed a strong force 
defended the house. 

Noonan was tried at the Cork Assizes, found guilty, 
and hanged on the 9th September at Gallows Green, 
Cork. He acknowledged his guilt, but declared that 
on the morning of the day of the attack he had no idea 
of taking part in it ; but, being sent for by another of 
the gang, he joined them in it. He never was engaged 
in any other attack. 

When the Irish Government was apprised of the 
gallantry of Mr. Purcell of Highfort, from a laudable 
desire to manifest a sense of his courage, he was oflTered 
and accepted the honour of knighthood. He was 
called in the country "The blood-red knight;'^ by 
some " The knight of the knife.'* 

A daring murder had been committed in his vicinity, 
and he took an energetic share in bringing the mur- 
derer to justice. The mode he adopted to identify the 
guilty person was creditable to his acuteness. Going 
to the house of the suspected criminal. Sir John Purcell 
asked " if he could see him.*' 

" Oh, no ; he's very sick," was the reply. 

" I must see him," insisted Sir John. 



The Munster Circuit. 277 

He was then introduced into the cabin, and in bed 
was the man, '^ taken/' he alleged, " with a bad colic/' 

'^Let me see your shoes/' was Sir John's next 
request. 

'^ Och an' troth, they're gone to be mended," was 
the reply. 

''What are these under the bed?" asked the 
inquisitive knight, seizing a pair of soiled brogues, the 
shoes he wanted. 

Bearing away the shoes, he left the sick man well 
watched by a couple of policemen, while he repaired to 
the scene of the murder. It was winter, and congealed 
snow covered the ground. Sir John found many foot- 
prints, but enough to connect the sick man with the 
deed of blood ; a nail was deficient in the heel of one of 
the shoes, and the tracks in the congealed snow showed 
a like want. This led to further evidence, until the 
guilt of the pretended invalid was satisfactorily esta- 
blished to the jury who convicted and the judge who 
pronounced upon him sentence of death. 

Most probably these deeds made Sir John Purcell an 
object of dislike to the peasantry. While at a country 
fair, he received intimation '' that his life was in danger, 
and he had better get home with all speed." Satisfied 
of the hona-fidea of this intelhgence, he put spurs to his 
horse, and soon a hot pursuit told him the warning was 
not made too soon. Being well mounted, he escaped 
to a farm-house, where he sought and found shelter. 

On another occasion, when riding with a gentleman 
named Seward, near Mallow, both were hemmed in by 
a large party of Rockites. These men bade Mr. Seward 
''not be in dread, for 'twas Sir John they wanted." 



278 The Munster Circuit, 

They forced him to alight from the horse he rode, and, 
while considering what they could do to him, he said in 
a low voice to his friend Seward, '^ Your horse is better 
than mine ; lend me yours, and 1^11 make a rush for it/' 

" Do, in God's name ! " said Mr. Seward, jumping 
from the saddle. 

He was no sooner out of it than Sir John was in, 
and, despite his fourscore years, leaped the next fence 
like a centaur. The Rockites ran here and there, 
but he was soon lost to them, and they wreaked their 
vengeance on Mr. Seward in making him ride to his 
house, san8 culottes, sitting on a furze bush tied to the 
saddle. 




Tlie Munster Circuit. 279 



CHAPTER XX. 

Bruce v. Grady. — Plaintiff and Defendant. — "The Nosegay" 
trial. — A Stage-struck Exciseman. — O'Connell on Circuit. — 
Trial of Scanlan for the Murder of the Colleen Bawn. 

At the Summer Assizes of 1816 the case of Bruce v. 
Grady, for libel, was tried in Limerick before Mr. 
Serjeant Johnson. Never in the legal annals of any 
country was a more powerful satire penned than the 
poem for which this action was brought. The plaintiff, 
George Evans Bruce, was a man of very considerable 
political influence. He amassed a very large fortune, 
and settled in the county of Limerick. He purchased 
in 1789 the estate of Hermitage, containing about 200 
acres, from Mr. Waller, of Castletown, for the sum of 
5000^., and laid out at least 10,000Z. more in building 
a fine house, planting, and improving the natural 
beauties of the place. He was of considerable use to 
Lord Clare as a political ally, and his lordship, when 
Chancellor, appointed him to the Commission of the 
Peace for the county of Limerick; but, it is said, Mr. 
Bruce was then so unpopular the other magistrates 
would not act with him. Bruce, however, seems to 
have conquered this prejudice, and in the year 1800 
served the distinguished office of High Sheriff of the 
county. He disposed of his beautiful seat. Hermitage 



28o TIu Mimster Circuit. 

in 1802, to Lord Massy for the sum of 20,OOOZ. Mr. 
Bruce founded the Limerick Club, and became a 
banker in Limerick. His bank was No. 6, Butland 
Street, the present auction mart. It was stated — 
perhaps untruly — that the money with which Mr. 
Bruce carried on his dealings as a banker in Limerick 
had been gained by gambling in London and Paris, 
and amounted to 90,000{. It was also related that 
while playing quinze with the celebrated statesman 
Fox, the latter, suspecting foul play, snatching a fork 
from the supper-table in the gambling-saloon, drove it 
with all his force into the hand of his suspected com- 
panion, exclaiming, "For 5000 guineas the five of 
clubs is under that hand ! '^ On investigation this 
statement proved true; but the truth of the whole 
story is rendered apocryphal by there being no sign of 
any such wound on the alleged blackleg's hand. It 
was, however, stated Fox did not think all was fair 
play with the Limerick banker. 

The defendant, Thomas Grady, Esq., of Belmont, was, 
as we have already seen, a barrister, a member of the 
Munster circuit, an Assistant Barrister, and possessed 
of a landed estate, with a suitable mansion called Bel- 
mont. That he was a gentleman holding considerable 
station in the county of Limerick may be inferred from 
his having filled the office of High Sheriff* of that 
important county in the year 1805. He was — un- 
fortunately for himself, but still more so for those he 
regarded as enemies — possessed of the cacoethes scri-- 
bendi, and as the literature of those times was not as 
moral as our own, his poems abound with indecent 
passages. He wrote the " Flesh-Brush '^ for Lady 



The Munster Circuit, 281 

Clare ; tte ^^ West Briton/^ to support the Legislative 
Union between Great Britain and Ireland \ lie likewise 
spoke in favour of the measure at the meeting of the 
Irish Bar already mentioned. A poem entitled '^ Peace ^' 
was written by him ; another called ^' Sir Phelim 
O'Shaughnessy/' "The Barrister'' and "The Two- 
penny Post Boy '' are ascribed to him ; bub the poem 
which caused the greatest noise, and gave the author 
most trouble and cost, was his satire called " The 
Nosegay/' He moved in the best society in Limerick, 
and was said to be a tuft-hunter. He told the follow- 
ing story of Dr. Bernard, Bishop of Limerick in 1799 : 
— " I will never forget the impression this acooin- 
plished bishop made upon me the first time I ever sat 
in his company. It was at Lord Gort's. After dinner 
the conversation took a stupid turn upon our taxes, and 
particularly upon the window-tax, then lately laid on 
this country \ and I threw in some stupid observations 
reprobating the tax, and lamenting the miserable fine 
of 6Z. a year I had to pay for my house in Dublin. 
" Sir,'' says he, " you have no taxes ; it is idle to talk 
of taxes in this country. Sir, I had a house once in 
London that lay in an angle of two great streets. By 
consequence it had two fronts, each very extensive, 
and with more than the ordinary proportion of win- 
dows to each front; and, sir, I had to pay for the 
window-tax of that house (I think he said) 80Z." This 
struck me with horror — j>roximus ardit, I had a pro- 
phetic anticipation of what has since happened, and in 
the state of despair arising from the coup-d'ceily I burst 
into the vulgar and indecent ejaculation of " Oh, blood 
and 'ounds." I saw in an instant the lawn sleeves 



282 The Munster Circuit, 

present themselves to my confounded imagination. I 
was sensible of the vulgarity and grossness I had 
committed, and I humbly asked his pardon. He saw 
I was degraded and humbled in my own feelings, and 
fixing his eyes upon me, which sparkled when he was 
going to be playful, and gave notice of the coming 
flash, " Well you may say ^ blood and 'ounds,' sir. It 
was enough to make any honest man say ' blood and 
'ounds,' sir. I can tell you, sir, it has made a bishop 
say ^ blood and 'ounds,' sir.^' The whole table was con- 
vulsed, and I was redeemed by the wit, the pleasantry, 
and good nature of this admirable man.> 

It is believed some unwillingness on the part of the 
banker to accommodate Mr. Grady with money caused 
the publication of "The Nosegay." Whatever the 
cause, it is impossible to conceive a more pungent and 
terrible invective. It represents Bruce brought to the 
bar of Justice and accused of a catalogue of crimes. I 
must content myself with a few extracts, as there is 
much not fit for publication. The satire commences 
with a description of the plaintiff brought before the 
court : — 



« 



Come — for tardy Justice takes her seat, 

Convicted usurer, convicted cheat ; 

In every mischief aider or abettor ; 

Self -vaunted infidel and tampering traitor ; 

In daring prime, in principles unbuckled ; 

Reluctant subject, voluntary cuckold. 

See round the court of youths debauch'd a group 

Who supp'd thy poison while they supp'd thy soup, 



* Lenehan's ** History of Limerick," p. 441. 



TJu Miinster Circuit. 283 

Who haunt thy dinners, emulous to share 
Thy half -digested extracts from Voltaire, 
Whose finer taste thy sense could never hit; 
Which caught th* impiety, but not the wit ; — 
Dinners, where mischiefp never at a stand — 
Atheist and sharper joining hand in hand. 
Blest firm combining to engulf the whole, 
To sink the property and damn the soul." 

Having charged the plaintiflf with every species of 
usury, the defendant says : — 

" See on one side some vision-ruin*d boys. 
Whose lands you mortgaged to sustain their joys. 
Who pay for nights in these sad vigils spent, 
A mild retribution of cent, per cent.*' 

The account of the transaction with Fox is thus 
introduced : — 

" But see aloft, and near the sherifTs box. 
The black-brow'd spectre of poor Charles Fox. 
See, with one hand his angry eyes he rubs. 
And in the other holds — a five of clubs. 
Some fools assert plurality of wives, 
Thy doctrine was plurality of fives. 
And by this doctrine, heterodox and rank. 
You built a palace and you stocked a bank. 
But sold the palace, when no neighbour came, 
Mark'd, while you lived there, mansion of ill-fame." 

The satire then describes some female relationship 
of Mr. Bruce, which showed the reason why respectable 
ladies declined to visit at this mansion. Having dis- 
charged all the gall and venom of an implacable nature 
on the head of his victim, the satire concludes : — 



« 



Oh ! Heavenly Father, merciful and kind. 
Subdue my passions, grant me peace of mind ! 



284 The Munster Circuit. 

Peace with good men on earth to me be given, 
And glory be to Thee, on high in Heav'n, 
And if this world one atheist shall disclose, 
The sacred balm of mercy interpose ; 
Place him by night where he may fairly hear 
The ravings of this wretch's gailt and fear ; 
Atheist no more — reformed he'll bend the knee 
To trath and grace, to majesty and Thee." 

Of course no man could rest under the lash of such a 
libel without bringing an action against the author. 
There was not much difficulty in discovering who the 
author of '^ The Nosegay '^ was, and proceedings were 
promptly taken. A declaration was filed^ issue joined, 
and the case appeared in the list of records for the 
Limerick Summer Assizes of 1816. A very able Bar, 
composed of the leaders of the Munster Circuit, ap- 
peared on both sides. The counsel for the plaintiff 
were Mr. Ooold, afterwards Serjeant and Master in 
Chancery; Mr. Pennefather, afterwards a Baron of 
the Exchequer; and Mr. Jackson, afterwards a 
Judge of the Common Pleas. For the defendant 
were Mr. Burton, Daniel O'Connell, Mr. Bennett, 
Mr. Meade Hobson, Mr. Furlong, Mr. Smyth, and 
Mr. O'Regan. 

The jury was composed of the following highly 
respectable Limerick gentlemen : — 

Hon. George Byre Massy, foreman ; Edward Croker, 
Stephen Edward Rice, the Knight of Glin, De Courcy 
O^Grady, Thomas Rice, Michael Scanlan, Edward 
Villiers, George Tuthill, John Greene, Robert Cripps, 
and Alexander Rose, Esqs. 

The declaration, necessarily a long one, set out such 



The Munster Circuit. 285 

parts of the libel as it was proposed to prove, and the 
damages were laid at 20,000Z. 

Mr. Goold stated the case for the plaintiff, and gave 
the formal proofs usual in case of libel. The speeches 
for the defendant by O'Connell and Burton were very 
much repetitions of the alleged libel, and a host of wit- 
nesses to a considerable extent sustained the case for 
the defence. Among these were Mr. Bolton Waller, 
Thomas Lloyd, K.O., Mr. Webber, Mr. Evans, Mr. 
Eyves, and Mr. Vandeleur. 

Mr. Pennefather replied for the plaintiff, and then 
the learned judge charged. 

The jury, after some delay, found for the plaintiff. 
Damages, 500Z. 

ITiese damages the defendant would not pay. Ta 
avoid being imprisoned for debt he went to Boulogne, 
where he died. 

About the year 1820 smuggling was very extensively 
carried on in many parts of the South of Ireland. The 
jutting promontories, the creeks and bays along the 
coast of Kerry and Cork favoured contraband trade, 
and the want of an organized revenue police gave 
great scope to the removing of goods which paid no 
duty. Tobacco was a favourite article for smuggling, 
and it is said many families along the coast were 
enriched by the sums amassed which they embarked 
in this unlawful business. 

At length the Government resolved to try and check 
it, the Custom House officials sent a revenue officer to 
Dingle, with orders to seize the offenders and bring 
them to trial. This officer was a Mr. Flood, who had, 
at one time, filled a subordinate position iu the Crow 



286 TJte Munster Circuit, 

Street theatre in Dublin. He possessed a great me- 
mory for plays^ was accustomed to repeat many scenes 
verbatim from the principal dramatists^ and success- 
fully mimicked the most eminent actors of the day. 

However active Mr. Flood might have been as a 
revenue officer under authority^ he seemed indisposed 
to much exertion when left to himself. He preferred 
the exhibition of his histrionic powers, and the good 
fellowship of the Dingle youths, to watching the rough 
sea waves, or the smuggling of cognac brandy, or 
Havannah cigars. He got up private theatricals in 
Dingle, and soon enlisted a numerous corps draTnatique. 
Suppers soon followed the theatricals, and Mr. Flood 
was very ready to give as well as take. These festive 
repasts were frequent. Fowl were scarce, they were 
essential for the suppers, and Flood was not over par- 
ticular how they were procured. The jovial suppers 
despoiled many a hen-roost and poultry-yard, and 
their firequency denoted the conviviality of Mr. Flood. 

Soon reports of his doings reached head- quarters, 
and Mr. Flood received a friendly hint that unless he 
gave some prompt proof of his zeal for the revenue, his 
services would be dispensed with on the Kerry coast. 
Fortune favoured him. A wholesale smuggler, named 
Connor, was caught in a midnight attempt to discharge 
a cargo of smuggled tobacco. The cargo, a valuable 
one, was seized by Flood and his men. They captured 
forty hprses, each laden with a huge bale of tobacco on 
either side, and a third poised on the back of each 
horse. This was a seizure to set up Flood. The in- 
formations privately made against him were attributed 
to malice, and he was rewarded liberally. Connor was 



The Mtiuster Circuit, 287 

lodged in gaol, and was to be tried at the Tralee As- 
sizes. The offence was expected to be fully proved, 
and that Connor would be transported for fourteen 
years. His family at once retained O'Connell to defend 
him in the court-house of Tralee, 

The chief witness against him was Mr Flood, and to 
incapacitate Flood from being such witness was the 
object of Connor^s friends. They knew the disposition 
of their man from frequent convivial association, and 
took their measures accordingly. As the assizes came 
on they plied him with all sorts of liquors — ^whisky, 
brandy, gin, and rum. He was kept in a state of 
maudlin drunkenness to the day of the trial. Still he 
was not incapable of telling bis tale of the capture 
coherently. He described how he lay in ambush, and 
arrested Connor and the contraband goods. 

Having concluded his evidence, he was about leaving 
the witness-chair, when O'Connell, in his full-toned, 
mellifluent voice, recalled him, with, "Come back, 
Alonzo." He knew Flood well as an liahiiuG of Crow 
Street theatre, and was well posted up in his history. 
Flood^s stage passion was stirred, and as he sat down 
he smiled on O^Connell, as he repeated, " Alonzo the 
brave and the fair Imogene." 

" And who was your Imogene in Dingle V^ inquired 
Dan in a coaxing tone. 

Flood fenced with him, but was obliged to tell, and 
how many, and what parts he had acted. He was 
then asked about the suppers, and the geese, turkeys, 
chickens, and other fowl which were slaughtered, the 
heu'roosts robbed, until at last Flood lost his temper, 
and O'Connell gained his point. Between the drink 



288 The Munster Circuit. 

and bewilderment in wWcli he found himself, lie be- 
came involved in a web of contradiction, so that it was 
impossible to credit what he said. He actually lost 
consciousness of where he was, and crying, " My love, 
my life, my Belvidere,'* attempted to embrace O'Oon- 
nell, and thereby fell off the table, to the amusement 
of the by-standers and the indignation of the presiding 
judge. After five minutes' discussion the jury acquitted 
the prisoner, thus adding another to the triumphs pre- 
viously gained by O'Connell on the circuit. 

At the Clare Assizes in Ennis, two brothers named 
Hourigan, were indicted for feloniously, unlawfully, 
and maliciously setting fire to a certain dwelling-house 
(the dwelling-house was a police barrack), with intent 
to injure, &c. The police barrack was the property of 
Darby O'Grady, Esq., and it was stated the barrack 
had been ignited by means of a jar of pitch, found half 
consumed near the burnt barrack. 

O'Oonnell was employed for the defence, and by his 
desire a skillet containing pitch was secretly placed 
near the witness's chair, and over this O'Connell 
placed his broad-brimmed hat, so as effectually to con- 
ceal it. The principal witness for the prosecution was 
examined by Mr. Bennett, K.O. He swore ^^ that he 
discovered the barrack on fire, and knew it was set on 
fire by pitch, for he got the smell of it.'' 

He was then cross-examined by O'Connell. 

^^ You know the smell of pitch, then," said O'Con- 

nell. 

'^ I. do, well," replied the witness. 

"You seem a man able to smell pitch anywhere?" 
said O'Connell. 



The Munster Circuit. 289 



i( 



Anywhere I found it/' 

'^ Even here in this court-house, if it was here/' 

" No doubt I would/' 

" And do you swear you don't get the smell of pitch 
here ?" asked O'Oonnell. 

" I do solemnly/' replied the witness. '' If it was 
here I'd smell it/' 

Then O'Oonnell, taking his hat oflF the skillet of 
pitch, which was placed beside the witness's chair, 
cried, "Now you may go down, you perjured rascal. 
Go down/' 

This saved his client. The jury discredited the 
witness. 

At Limerick (yConnell had a case to defend which 
presented slight hopes of his being able to obtain an 
acquittal. The mode he adopted was one which few 
would venture upon. His two clients were indicted 
for robbery, and the case was substantially proved 
against them. They called a young priest for testi- 
mony as to their character for honesty. He thought 
to make a parade of his learning by the use of big 
words, and his replies to the usual inquiries were in the 
most polysyllable terms he could devise. Having 
stated " their reputation for rectification of habitual 
propriety was exemplary and commendable," Judge 
Torrens, who chafed with irritation, as the young priest 
rolled out each jaw-breaker, at last cut him short 
with, — 

" Come, sir, no more of this, say shortly what you 
know of these men. Are they honest ?" 

" As far as my experience of their deportment, I am 
under that impression." 

u 



t^^m^m^^^mtm 



290 Tke Munster Circuit. 

'^You think they are. That comprehends a great 
deal/' said the judge, still displaying temper. Tam- 
ing to the priest, he said, " That will do ; go down, 
sir!'' 

O'Connell, assuming an air of great indignation, as 
the priest shuffled off the table, addressing the prisoners 
in a tone of deep commiseration, said, '' My poor 
fellows, bigotry is on the bench, and when your ex- 
cellent young priest has been so ignominiously turned 
out of court, I am in despair of being able to serve 
you. Here's your brief and fee." He flung the brief 
and the notes to the agent for the prisoners, and com- 
menced putting on his cloak, muttering, '^ My innocent 
clients, I despair altogether now of your acquittal \ 
you'll be hanged, and never were men hanged more 
unjustly. The only hope I can look to is, that, if your 
sentence is not carried into execution before the twelve 
judges meet, I bring this outrageous case before 
them." 

This had the effect intended. Judge Torrens grew 
terrified at the notion of having acted harshly towards 
the priest, and disclaimed any such intention. He 
invited O'Oonnell to continue the defence of his clients, 
and to this, after some pretended reluctance, O'Connell 
assented. The case went on, and the judge, to show 
he was no bigot, put the character for honesty given 
the prisoners by the priest so strongly that the jury, 
almost instantly, brought in their verdict. Not Guilty. 

O'Connell was in very large practice, and few equalled 
him in the conduct of the criminal cases he defended. 
He was in his early years usually retained for the 
prisoners in Limerick by one of the officials in the 



The Munster Circuit, 291 

gaolj and as in the days of Whiteboys and Captain 
Bock these constituted a large nnmber, his gains from 
this source alone must have averaged at least lOOOZ. a 
year. 

The son of Mr. Hoskins^ agent for the estates of the 
Earl of Devon, in the county of Limerick, was murdered 
by a party of Bockites, who fired at and wounded this 
young gentleman on the 27th of July, 1821. Several 
men were arrested for this outrage, as also for the 
murder of Major Going and Mr. Christopher Sparling, 
a respectable Palatine farmer, who was shot as he was 
riding towards the town of Newcastle, from a farm 
called Bourka, of which he had become tenant, the 
former tenant having been ejected. Mr. Sparling had 
previously been attacked in his house at Patrickswell, 
when, aided by a young man from the city of Limerick, 
named Samuel Cross, he beat off the Bockites, but had 
to mourn the loss of his intrepid companion, who was 
killed in the conflict. For this attack three of the 
Bockites were made amenable. Two brothers, named 
Walsh, were tried and executed after the Summer 
Assizes in 1822, the other escaped to America, where 
he was accidentally burned.* 

The murder of Major Going was as follows : — On 
the 14th of October, 1821, Major Bichard Going, 
Chief Magistrate of Police of the county of Limerick, 
who by his, activity had incurred the hatred of the 
Bockites, as the insurgents were then called, was shot 
near Bathkeale. The unfortunate Major slept the 
previous night at Castletown, the mansion of John 

2 Lenehan's " History of Limerick," p. 450. 

u 2 



292 The Munster Circuit, 

Waller, Esq. He had choice of three roads, by any of 
which he coald have reached Bathkeale ; bat the 
Rockites had determined to murder him, and for three 
months were on the watch to effect their fell design. 
On this day no less than four of the gang were posted 
on each of the roads, so as to gaard against the possi- 
bility of his escape. Several men were arrested on 
suspicion, and one named James Bridgman, not quite 
twenty years old, was strongly suspected of having 
shot the major. The Crown failed to collect sufficient 
evidence, so he was discharged at the Spring Assizes 
of Limerick in 1823. Luckily for the ends of justice, 
he had not been tried and acquitted, for shortly after, 
the missing link in the chain of evidence against him 
was supplied; and at the Spring Assizes in 1824 he 
was tried and found guilty. He was hanged in front 
of the Limerick county gaol, and acknowledged he 
was guilty. He confessed he also was the person who 
shot Major Hare and Mr. Bushe. He was, though 
young, a hardened miscreant. 

Those of my readers who are familiar with Gerald 
Griffin^s admirably constructed novel of " The Col- 
legians," or have witnessed Mr. Dion Boucicault's 
excellent drama, " The Colleen Bawn,'' know the sad 
fate of the low-born wife of a dissolute Limerick 
gentleman, named Scanlan. Now, instead of the pages 
of the sensational novel, or the spectacle of the theatri- 
cal representations, the curtain rises on another scene. 
We behold the court-house of Limerick thronged with 
an eager, yet awe-struck crowd. On the bench sits 
the Honourable Richard Jebb, one of the Judges of 
the Court of King^s Bench. The bar seats are filled 



The Munster Circuit, 293 

with counsel learned in the law. There is a jury 
struck to make deliverance, and give a true verdict 
according to the evidence ; and a well-dressed, rather 
good-looking, gentlemanly man stands at the bar of 
the dock, charged, that he, John Scanlan, and Michael 
Sullivan — one Ellen Hanly, otherwise called Ellen 
Scanlan, feloniously, wilfully, and of their malice pre- 
pense, did, kill and murder, against the peace of our 
lord the King, his crown and dignity, and against the 
statute in such case made and provided. 

To this indictment the prisoner pleaded "Not guilty.'' 
He was defended by two most able criminal lawyers, 
Daniel O'Connell and George Bennett ; the counsel for 
the prosecution being Mr. Quin and Mr. Richard 
Pennefather. 

The facts of this atrocious crime were as follows : — 
The prisoner was of a most respectable family — son of 
Wm. Scanlan, of Bally cahane, in the county of 
Limerick, Esq. He had served in the Royal Navy, 
and had formed a connexion with the young girl Ellen 
Hanly, who was only sixteen years of age. She was 
daughter of Michael Hanly, a farmer holding land at 
Bally clan, in the said county. It was reported the 
prisoner had married his victim, and repenting of doing 
so, resolved to get rid of her. 

On the 18th of July, 1819, Scanlan, accompanied by 
Michael Sullivan, his boatman, was in his boat at Kilrush, 
in the county of Clare. Ellen Hanly, or Scanlan, the 
reputed wife of the prisoner, was also with him. 
Patrick Caze, James Mitchell, and a man named James 
Mangan, with Ellen Walsh, a native of the village of 
Glin, being at Kilrush, went also in the boat, for the 



294 The Munster Circuit. 

purpose of crossing the Shannon, in order to get home 
to Glin. The weather being tempestaoas, and the 
tide adverse, the boat was unable to cross the estuary, 
so they put into Carrigafoyle, an island on the coast of 
the county of Kerry. All the party remained that night 
in Carrigafoyle, and the principal witness, Ellen Walsh, 
saw Michael Sullivan force a gold ring oflF Ellen Hanly's 
finger. 

Next morning Caze, Mitchell, and Mangan left for 
Glin, Ellen Walsh remaining on the island with the 
prisoner, Ellen Hanly, and Sullivan. The prisoner 
requested the witness to remain on the island, assuring 
her he would return for her when he got rid of Ellen 
Hanly, but this witness refused. She insisted on 
being put over the creek intervening between the 
island and the shore, whence she could walk to 
Glin. 

The four in the boat then went across the creek. 
While they were together Ellen Hanly showed the 
witness several articles of wearing apparel, some of 
which she wore, others were contained in a small round 
trunk she had on board. She also showed witness a 
gold ring. After landing, the witness set off for Glin, 
leaving Scanlan, Sullivan, and Ellen Hanly together in 
the boat. Early next morning witness saw both John 
Scanlan and Michael Sullivan at Glin. Ellen Hanly 
was not with them. They stated '' they had left her at 
Kilkee.'' The witness noticed the ring which Ellen 
had shown her on Sullivan's finger. In a few days she 
saw with Mary Sullivan a silk handkerchief, a grey 
mantle, and other articles. These were produced at 
the trial, and she identified them as the articles of 



The Munster Circuit, 295 

dress she saw in the possession of Ellen Hanlj at 
Carrigafoyle. 

These articles were shown to the next witness pro- 
duced, Mary Sullivan. She swore she got the grey 
cloak from her brother Michael, who told her he bought 
it. It was taken out of a round trunk in the pos- 
session of John Scanlan. Scanlan gave this witness 
several articles of female dress. She saw a plain gold 
ring on her brother's finger, and a figured ring on 
Scanlan's finger. Scanlan had money. Witness saw 
four guineas, and a red leather purse. Witness never 
saw any woman's clothes with either Scanlan or her 
brother until they came to Glin. Heard that Pat 
Scanlan's wife had silk stockings and a silk handker- 
chief. Michael Sullivan told the witness the names of 
all the party who reached Carrig Island. Some days 
later she asked Scanlan ^^ where the young woman 
was f " He said ^^ he left her at Kilrush." In a week 
later he said '^ she was at Eilkee with his sister." 
Witness took a letter from Scanlan to his father at 
Ballycahane. She saw his sister there, but not the 
young woman. On her (witness's) return from Bally- 
cahane, she told the prisoner ''that his sister was 
there, but the young woman was not." '' Oh, no," he 
repKed, " she's gone off with the captain of a ship." 

Grace Scanlan, wife of Pat Scanlan, deposed to 
Michael Sullivan giving her a yellow silk spenser, a 
sprigged skirt, a pair of silk stockings, a silk handker- 
chief, and a pink handkerchief. She saw a trunk with 
a round lid. She also saw ten guineas in Scanlan's 
possession, and a five-pound Bank of Ireland note. 
Saw the rings on the fingers of both Scanlan and Sul- 



296 The Munster Circuit. 

livan. Witness asked Scanlan if he should ever see 
his lady again. He replied " she was at Kilkee with 
his sister/' Witness expressed her surprise that Scan- 
lan '' allowed Sullivan to make so free with her clothes/* 
He then said " the young woman had misbehaved with 
a captain of a ship/' Once or twice she heard Sulli- 
van ask the prisoner for money. On being refused^ 
Sullivan said ^^ I have as much right to it as you 
have/' 

From the 13th of July to the middle of September, 
no trace of Ellen Hanly^ alids Scanlan, could be dis- 
covered. Whether she had, in truth, gone off with a 
captain of a ship, or was dead and buried, was not 
known : but three men from Moneypoint, a small 
village near Kilrush, engaged in preparing their fishing 
gear on the estuary of the Shannon, at Carndalla, in 
the parish of Eallena, in the county of Clare, observed 
a small heap covered with sea-weed and slime. This, 
on examination, proved to be the fast-decaying remains 
of a female, little past the age of girlhood. There was 
nothing on the person but a small bodice. Hei: features 
were barely recognizable ; but remarkable teeth in the 
upper jaw, on either side of the small mouth, yet held 
out some hope of identification. That the poor young 
creature came by her end by murder most foul was 
evident, for the instrument of strangulation was there ; 
a rope still kept its fatal place tight round that fair and 
slender neck. At the loose end was a loop as for a 
stone. The sad discovery was quickly reported to the 
Knight of Glin, and, together with two other magis- 
trates, the Rev. George Warburton and Thos. Odell, 
Esq., they held an inquest on the 10th September, 



The Munster Circuit, 297 

1819, upon the remains. Ellen Walsh, already men- 
tioned, attended the inquest. She felt no difficulty in 
identifying the body as that of Ellen Hanly \ and the 
jury, having heard all the evidence then attainable, 
returned the following verdict : — 

'^ We find, on view of the body buried on the shore 
at Carndalla, that the woman exposed to our view was 
murdered. 

^' We find that such murder was committed on the 
river Shannon. 

'^ We find that such murder was eflfected by strangling 
the body with the rope found about her neck. 

''We find that such murder was committed by John 
Scanlan or Michael Sullivan, or by both.^' 

The finding of the body created the most intense 
sensation throughout the country. Scanlan was ar- 
rested at a friend^s house, where he was on a visit, 
little suspecting the shore of the Shannon had already 
given up its dead. On the warrant of the Mayor of 
Limerick (for the Shannon is within the jurisdiction of 
the city), he was committed to the city gaol. The 
young victim of this foul deed had resided for some 
time in the city, having been adopted by an uncle, 
named John Connery, a ropemaker. While with him 
she contracted her unhappy marriage, having made 
acquaintance with Scanlan at Garryowen. 

The case for the prosecution was too clear, and 
public sympathy too strong, for much chance of any 
disagreement of the jury, much less an acquittal. Both 
O'Oonnell and his able and respected colleague, Mr. 
Bennett, did all they could in cross-examining the 
witnesses to elicit discrepancies and contradictions in 



298 The Munster Circuit, 

their statements^ so as to raise a doubt as to their 
credit; but it was impossible to beat down the facts. 

The jury, without hesitation, found the prisoner 
guilty, and he was sentenced to be hanged in forty-- 
eight hours. He did not anticipate that his sentence 
would be carried into effect. His family were highly 
connected, and immediately on his conviction a relation 
started on horseback to procure signatures to a memo- 
rial for the judge, to obtain a respite of his sentence. 
The memorial was not only signed by a large number 
of most influential gentlemen, but many of them went 
to present it to Judge Jebb. It produced no effect. 
His lordship informed the deputation ''he had pro- 
noimced a like sentence upon an illiterate, humble 
man, whose offence was much inferior in enormity to 
that of Scanlan; and how could he execute the one 
and respite the greater criminal f The law must take 
its course.*' 

It is said Scanlan was permitted the use of hia 
family coach to convey him to Gallows Green, but the 
horses refused to stir. Neither blows nor entreaties 
could persuade them to draw him to the place of 
execution. Some tenant of the prisoner's family ar- 
riving in Limerick with loads of hay, allowed two of 
his horses to be harnessed, and lo ! on crossing Balls 
Bridge, they both lay down, and no whip or efforts 
would make them move, so the unhappy youth (he was 
only twenty-three years of age) had to walk in his 
mournful procession to the gibbet. He professed the 
Protestant faith, and was attended to the gallows by 
the Bev. Henry Gubbins. As all through he protested 
his innocence, the clergyman, at the last moment. 



The Munster Circuit 299 

bade him ''make his peace with God, and tell the 
truth/^ He replied, " I suflFer for a crim© in which T 
did not participate. If Sullivan be found, my inno- 
cence will appear/' He was immediately after launched 
into eternity. 

Sullivan was arrested, and tried at the Limerick 
Assizes in 1820, before the Eight Hon. Charles Kendal 
Bushe, when the same evidence was called, with a like 
result. He was convicted, confessed his guilt, and was 
executed. 



300 The Munster Circuit. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

Tragical fate of the Franks Family. 

For nearly the entire first quarter of the present cen- 
tury, bands of lawless men, named Whiteboys or 
Bockites, disturbed the peace of the Munster Circuit. 
They went in gangs, usually with veiled or blackened 
faces, wearing white shirts or women's petticoats over 
their clothes, whence they were called white boys. They 
visited the houses of farmers who had taken land from 
which the former tenant was evicted, and either mur- 
dered or ill-treated the new tenant and his family. 
Sometimes their atrocity induced them to burn the 
house and all that were within. Sometimes they con- 
tented themselves with putting the farmer to his oath 
not to hold the land, or merely took any fire-arms that 
happened to be in the house. During the greater part 
of this disturbed time, my father discharged the duty 
of accommodating the troops detached from the head- 
quarters garrison of Fermoy, in the county of Cork, 
where he was barrack-master, and at one period no less 
than twenty-two of these out-stations had to be visited 
by him once a month. He was of active habits, and 
usually rode unattended, often traversing the country 
at night when returning from distant stations. Though 
he often encountered parties of Whiteboys, he was so 



The Munster Circuit. 301 

popular he never was molested. That he was well 
known as an officer on duty was evident. ^'Good 
luck to ye ! captain, you're on your duty,'' was the usual 
salutation. 

In the month of September, 1823, a report was made 
to him of a frightful murder in his district, and, 
accompanied by General Sir Thomas Arbuthnot, 
K.C.B., commanding the Fermoy garrison, and the 
late Mr. James Plunkefct, afterwards Q.C., then on 
a visit to my father, he started for the scene of the 
outrage. 

The road from Fermoy to Kildorery runs near the 
river Funcheon, and a small road, or bohereen, leads 
to a place called Lisnagourneen, between Rockmills 
and Kildorery. Not far from Lisnagourneen stood a 
house of more elaborate architecture than the farm- 
houses in the country. It was not quite completed at 
this time. It was occupied, however, by a family of 
the name of Franks, consisting of father, mother, and 
only child — a son grown to manhood — and their ser- 
vant girl. They were respectably connected, the head 
of the family residing at the ancestral seat, Carrig, near 
Mallow. Mr. Franks, the occupant of the house near 
Lisnagourneen, was employed in farming, and also 
acted as agent over part of the vast estates of the Earl 
of Kingston. 

His only son— a well-looking, well-conducted youth 
— ^also attended to the farm, and was deemed a good 
match in the country. He found favour in the aflfection 
of a Miss Kearney, reputed an heiress. Her property 
was a large farm, held by her late father, who had died a 
few years before 1823. Her step-sister by his first wife 



302 The Munster Circuit 

was married to Mr. Keeffe^ who managed the farm^ and 
looked with jealousy upon any suitor to this Miss 
Kearney, who, if she was married, might deprive him of 
the rights and emoluments he then enjoyed. As Miss 
Kearney plainly saw the object of Mr. KeeflTe was to 
oppose her marriage, and that her o!nly chance of 
getting her property into her own control or enjoyment 
was to get a husband, she was disposed to favour the 
suit of young Mr. Pranks ; and, as she did not wish to 
deprive her step-sister of the house in which she lived 
with Mr. Keeffe, it was arranged that during the life of 
her sister young Mrs. Franks would reside with her 
husband^s parents. In order to provide a suitable 
dwelling for his wealthy bride, young Mr. Franks 
employed a contractor to build the house near Lis- 
nagourneen. The old couple, who liked their future 
daughter, eagerly watched the progress of the building. 
They looked forward to happy days passed in the society 
of their beloved children, and, as the work drew near 
completion, thought to hasten the workmen by partially 
occupying the house. 

The parlour was not deemed sufficiently dry for 
dwelling in with safety, so the family had their meals 
in the kitchen and slept in the bedroom upstairs. They 
were homely in their habits and of domestic tastes. 
They sat at their humble dinner on that September 
evening, and, when the shades of coming night darkened 
the room, a candle was lighted ; and we may well imagine 
they were happy together. This tranquillity was rudely 
broken. Two men of threatening appearance entered 
the kitchen. One bore a formidable horseman's pistol ; 
the other had the dreaded symbol of Whiteboys — a 




The Munster Circuit 303 

shirt over his clothes. The servant-girl, Mary Myers, 
croached under a table near the wall, where the light 
did not penetrate, and there, herself unseen, beheld 
and heard all that occurred. The men roughly de- 
manded '^ the firearms in the house/' 

" I declare to God ! *' replied Mr. Pranks, '' there are 
no arms of any sort in the house.'' 

" No ! indeed," said his son, " they are all at Mr. 
Smyth's, at Castle Widenham, but we can send for 
them, and you shall have them." 

Several stout-looking men now blocked up the little 
hall, evidently of the same gang, for one, dressed in a 
green coat, with white trousers, who seemed the com- 
manding ofiicer, hearing what young Mr. Pranks said, 
instantly exclaimed, " 'Tis not for arms you want to 
send, but for the soldiers. Gome in, boys, and do your 
duty." At this order nine or ten more rushed into the 
kitchen. They were armed, and, as they raised their 
guns, poor Mrs. Pranks cast herself before her son so 
as to shield him from the contents of these weapons. 
One of the ruffians seized her, threw a white apron 
round her head, and strangled her. Pather and son 
were instantly shot dead, and then, happily for her, not 
seeing the terrified servant, the murderers departed. 

What a sight was presented to my father and his 
companions when they entered that cottage next day ! 
The three bodies of father, mother, and son lay as they 
fell. The little room was soon filled by magistrates, 
police, and the peasantry, all horror-stricken at the 
fearful crime. Of course it was a Whiteboy offence, 
and many reasons were assigned for the perpetration. 
The Rev. Dr. Woodward, rector of the parish of Glan- 



304 The Munster Circuit, 

worth, ascribed it to Mr. Pranks having had to deal 
harshly with several of the defaulting tenants on the 
Kingston estates. Others thought Mr. Keeffe, who, it 
will be remembered, was married to the half-sister of 
Miss Kearney, might have employed the murderers to 
remove the young suitor out of the way. The police 
were soon at work, and, at the Spring Assizes for the 
county of Cork, held on the 9th of April, 1824, three 
men, brothers, named Patrick, Maurice, and John 
Cronin, were indicted before Mr. Justice Torrens for 
these barbarous murders. • 

The chief evidence against the prisoners was that 
unreliable one — ^an approver. His name was Edward 
Magner. He swore that the prisoners were the men 
who asked him to join in the murder of the Franks 
family. That he consented to go with the party, and 
they all went to the new house. He disguised himself 
by wearing a woman^s cap and a gown. Patrick 
Cronin, one of the prisoners, had on a shawl and an 
apron. The Cronins had for arms bayonets on sticks. 
He carried a pistol. When he entered the kitchen, the 
father, mother, and son were sitting round a table. A 
lighted candle and a jug were upon it. They asked for 
fire-arms. Mr. Franks said '^'they had none in the 
house, that they had sent them to Mr. Smyth's, but he 
would send for them.'' They tied a shawl round 
Mrs. Franks's face, to hinder her from shouting while 
they were shooting the rest. Patrick Cronin flung the 
jug at Mr. Franks's face, and then witness fired his 
pistol at him. It was loaded with slugs. Patrick 
Cronin struck Mr. Franks with the poker, when he 
fell. Young Mr. Franks took up a chair to try and 



The Munster Circuit, 305 

defend himself, but a blow broke his arm. He was 
then beaten till he died. Mrs. Pranks was strangled. 
The three prisoners took an active share in the killing. 
This evidence was, in the main, fully corroborated by 
Mary Myers, the servant. 

Dr. Piddel, of Kildorery, proved he examined the 
three bodies. Mr. Franks, senior, had been shot in the 
breast; his skull also was fractured. Mr. Franks, 
junior, had his arm broken, and his head showed some 
wounds. Mrs. Franks died from suffocation. 

The jury found the three prisoners guilty of wilful 
murder, and they were executed. They in the most 
solemn manner protested their innocence of the 
crime. 

Suspicion still clung to Mr. Keeffe, and he, together 
with a man named Thomas Bourke, were tried at the 
Autumn Assizes for the county of Cork, on the 18th 
August, 1825, charged before Baron Pennefather with 
the triple murder. In stating the case for the pro- 
secution, Mr. Serjeant Goold alluded to tJie fact of 
Mr. Keeffe's connexion with the Kearney family, and 
his being opposed to the match between Miss Kearney 
and the deceased young Mr. Franks. The character of 
the Franks was that of being severe landlords, and the 
learned serjeant described the outrage as I have already 
related it. 

Timothy Murphy, another approver, gave evidence 
in this case. He was examined by Mr. Quin. He 
identified the prisoner, Thomas Bourke, as one of the 
gang who committed the murder, but did not recognize 
Keeffe. O'Connell defended the prisoners, and obliged 
Murphy, the approver, to admit his participation in so 

X 



3o6 The Munster Circuit 

many deeds of guilt that Baron Pennefather said '' it 
was unnecessary to cross-examine him further/' 

A witness named Glover identified KeeflFe as having 
been present at the murder. He, however, was not 
deemed a trustworthy witness. He admitted, on cross- 
examination by O'Connell/ " that he was employed in 
Mr. Franks' service, that for several days before the 
murder he knew of the intended crime, yet he gave no 
hint or warning to his master.'* 

Mary Myers, the servant-maid, also identified Keeffe 
as one of the persons who were present on that fatal 
night when she lay under the table. On cross-exami- 
nation by O'Connell, she broke down by admitting 
" that on two occasions she swore she did not see Keefie 
that night.*' 

Edward Magner, a witness in the former trial, was 
also examined, but his connexion with the Whiteboys 
rendered him worthless as a Crown witness. 

O'Oonnell called respectable gentlemen as to cha- 
racter for his clients. They all concurred in their belief 
that Mr. Keeffe and Thomas Bourke were both men of 
excellent character, and not likely to have aided in the 
perpetration of this atrocious deed. The jury found 
them not guilty. 

For years the fate of the Franks formed a subject of 
conversation in the rural district, and I trust never 
again shall this peaceful neighbourhood be sullied by 
so terrible a crime. 



The Munster Circuit. 307 



CHAPTER XXII. 

• 

The Doneraile Conspiracy. — Impressire Statement of tlie 
Solicitor- General. — John Doherty. — Conviction of the Four 
Men first tried at the Special Commission in 1829. 

The Doneraile Conspiracy, so alarming in its first pro- 
portions, so despicable in its last results, forms a 
prominent narrative in our legal history. Doneraile is 
a well-built and thriving country town in the northern 
part of the county of Cork, a few miles from Mallow, 
but a short distance from the garrison town of Butte- 
vant. Close to the town is the stately mansion of the 
St. Legers, Viscounts Doneraile \ and the country seats 
of the county families of Morrough, Creagh, Norcott, 
Hill, Stawell, Evans, and others lie scattered around. 
These seats, at this period of our history, were occupied 
by a dashing, fox-hunting, steeplechase-riding race, 
the fXiie of the Duhallow Hunt, and all belonging to 
the Protestant Church. They always voted for the 
candidate for the representation of Cork county who 
would oppose Catholic emancipation, and, as that was 
the question of the day, were undoubtedly looked upon 
with dislike by the lower orders of the peasantry. The 
propensity of the people for the possession of fire- 
arms induced gangs of Bockites to plunder any house 
in which weapons were kept, and their having them was 

T ^ 



3o8 The Munster Circuit, 

but the prelude to using them. The details which I 
have lately given of the murder of Major Going, Mr. 
Hoskins^ and others in Limerick, and the Franks family 
in Cork, show how savagely these lawless men carried oul^ 
their fell designs when they resolved to slay the object 
of their hate ; and one of the local gentry in the neigh- 
bourhood of Doneraile, Mr. George Bond Low, a magis- 
trate and Baronial High Constable, was a marked man 
for popular aim. He had been several times fired at^ 
and on each occasion showed a brave and intrepid 
spirit. On returning one day from a country fair two 
Bockites, concealed by a ditch, fired at him as he rode 
past. They missed Mr. Low, but wounded his horse. 
He quickly threw himself off the poor animal, and^ 
climbing the bank, saw his assailants running away. He 
fired a pistol at the nearest^ but the ball fell short, so Mr. 
Low gave chase. When he got close to them they halted, 
turned, and fired at their pursuer. They again missed, 
and he rushed on them, and when within range fired and 
shot one of the assassins. He then closed with the other, 
who grappled with him, but Mr. Low was a large, powerful 
man, and he succeeded in making the Sockite prisoner. 

At the Cork Summer Assizes, 1829^ this man was 
indicted before Chief Baron O'Grady for firing at 
Mr. Low with intent to murder him. He was found 
guilty and executed. 

Mr. Low^s courage and daring in bringing the mis- 
creant to justice made him very unpopular, and in 
song and story he was mentioned with animosity. A 
ballad with the refrain — 

" Three cheers for the man who gave the blow ; 
That broke the pate of George Bond Low " — 



The Munster Circuit. 309 

was popular, and a man named Patrick !Daly, com- 
monly called '' the spy,^' laid the following information 
before Colonel Hill, an active county magistrate of 
Doneraile : — 

" Deponent sayeth — that some time ago this deponent 
was at the house of Denis Duame, publican, of Done- 
raile, in company with Daniel Keeflfe, of Ballynere, and 
Darby Morrison, of Wallstown, and at an adjoining 
table were sitting Richard Griffin, of Wallstown, and 
John Magner, son-in-law to William Flinn, of Done- 
raile, William Flinn, junior, and a fourth man unknown 
to informant. That in conversation Daniel Keeffe 
asked John Magner to lend him a gun. The latter 
asked ' for what purpose, and if for fowling.' Keeffe 
replied, 'Suppose so.' Magner answered, 'A bad 
fowler you are.' Keeffe observed, ' Better than you, 
for the last Bird you fired at you missed* Darby 
Morrison then asked, ' What Bird do you mean ? ' 
Magner then acknowledged, ' that George Bond Low 
was the man. I do not deny that I fired at him and 
missed him; but, by the virtue of my oath, I have 
another charge ready for him, and the first opportunity 
I will be at him. If I cannot get the opportunity, 
others will, as there is not a man of ours at Wallstown 
and Droomdur who will not be ready to shoot him. 
You ought all to join in it, and, Daniel Keeffe, you may 
get the gun from John Keeffe which we took from 
Mr. Fennell.' Some more conversation passed, and 
the party separated. 

'' Informant saith that on Thursday, March 5th inst., 
he went to the house of Thomas Desmond, near Mil- 
town, farmer, whom informant knew to be a captain of 



310 The Munster Circuit. 

Whiteboys, and remained there till Saturday^ 7tli 
March ; that informant has been in the confidence of 
Desmond for some time past^ and has seen him round 
with Whiteboys ; that Desmond acknowledged to infor- 
mant that there were many pikes lately made by Patrick 
Began^ of Newtown, and John Hare, of Corline, black- 
smiths; that they were given to himself, Cornelias 
Brusnahan, of Ardglas, farmer, and Daniel Corkery, 
near Shardrum, farmer; that they paid the smith for 
making them ; that if they wanted one thousand pounds 
they would get it from Mr. Murphy, priest of Newtown, 
and that it was some of the Catholic rent which was 
kept by the priest for that purpose, and by whose 
orders Desmond acknowledged the pikes were made. 
Thomas Desmond further informed deponent that the 
pikes were distributed by him, Brusnahan, and Corkery 
to such of their friends as could be depended on. 
Informant saith that the priests, since Counsellor 
O^ConnelPs business, directed the people to provide 
arms and pikes, and to be ready when called upon. 
Informant further saith that he met William Nolan 
yesterday, 10th March, on the farm of Cornelius 
Garvin, at Knockanard; that he acknowledged to 
informant that he, with Edward Vowell, of Bathclare, 
and Edward McGrath, of Sag, were the persons who 
took Mr. Coote's double-barrel gun from the bam at 
Knockanard on Friday night; that Thomas Howell, 
labourer to Mr. Coote, gave information that Mr. 
Coote left the gun in the bam, and that Nolan, 
McGrath, and Vowell the same night broke open the 
bam door and took the gun, which Nolan acknow- 
ledged to informant that he had in his care.^ 



a 



Tlu Munster Circuit. 3 1 1 

This iDformation is a sample of the lawless state of 
the country as reported by Daly and his companions. 
Soon, however, it was sworn that a number of men had 
conspired to assassinate Admiral Evans, Mr. George 
Bond Low, and Michael Oreagh, Esquire, and when 
Dr. Norcott, of Doneraile, with his daughter, were 
returning one night from a party at Old Town, the 
residence of Admiral Evans, between the hours of ten 
and eleven o'clock, on a road near Ballivonere bridge, 
two persons fired at the carriage, wounding the coach- 
man and footman on the box, and sending several balls 
through the carriage. There was, shortly after, a 
meeting of magistrates held in Doneraile, the High 
Sheri£f, Michael Creagh, Esq., in the chair, and sub- 
scriptions were entered into, and a large reward — 
which, with 200Z. from the Lords Justices, amounted to 
7321. — was ofiered for the discovery of the perpetrators 
of this outrage. The informations of Patrick Daly 
soon caused the arrest of several persons, who were 
committed for trial; but it would appear that Chief 
Baron O'Grady, in his charge to the Grand Jury of the 
county of Cork, at the Summer Assizes of 1829, did 
not entertain as firm a belief in the guilt of the parties 
accused as the Doneraile gentry did. He said that 
" he perceived that seventeen persons were charged 
with having participated in this conspiracy. If bills in 
the case should go before the Grand Jury, and he was 
not certain that they would, he besought that they 
should not be found without their having received the 
weightiest consideration.^' The bills were sent before 
the Grand Jury and quickly found, and the prisoners 
were desirous of being tried ; but, npon calling over the 



312 The Munster Circuit. 

jury panel of 160 persons^ only thirty-one answered to 
their names. The Crown Counsel asked for a delay, to 
enable the sheriff to procure the attendance of jurors \ 
but the Chief Baron did not wish to prolong the 
assizes, so he would only agree to postpone the cases 
to the following assizes. This, however, did not suit 
the anxiety of the Doneraile gentry, and, aware of the 
lawless state of the country, we can hardly bo surprised 
if they applied to the Irish Government for a special 
commission to try the conspirators and secure the 
public peace. The application was successful. Baron 
Pennefather and Judge Torrens were nominated the 
judges for trying the prisoners, and Mr. Doherty, 
Solicitor-General, was directed by the Government to 
conduct the prosecution. Mr. Doherty was a strikingly 
handsome man, as some one said, '^ Over six feet high 
and every inch a gentleman." He had an excellent 
voice— clear, distinct, and melodious. He possessed 
considerable talent for speaking, and had much ex- 
perience as a member of the Leinster Circuit. He had 
been called to the Bar in 1808, and was considered to 
resemble his kinsman, the Right Hon. George Canning. 
He was member of ParUament for Kilkenny, and, on 
the elevation of Lord Plunket to the Bench in 1827 as 
Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, Mr. Joy became 
Attorney-General, and Mr. Doherty Solicitor-General. 
Associated with Mr. Doherty in the conspiracy cases 
were the usual Crown prosecutors in the Munster 
Circuit, Serjeant Goold and Mr. Bennet, K.C. ; to these 
was added Mr. R. W. Greene, K.C. 

On the 21st of October, 1829, the county court-house 
of Cork was densely thronged. In the body of the 



The Munster Circuit 313 

court, and along the galleries, in the Grand Jury box, 
and in all the avenues, county gentlemen clustered 
thick as bees in a hive, but the lower orders were con- 
spicuous by their absence ; not a frieze coat was visible. 
The commission being opened. Baron Pennefather 
charged the Grand Jury ; additional bills were sent up. 
The prisoners were twenty-one in number, and when 
their agent, Mr. FitzGerald, stated they were without 
counsel, the Solicitor-General at once said, ''If the 
attorney for the prisoners would name any two gentle- 
men of the Bar, the Crown would take care they were 
remunerated.'^ Messrs. Francis McCarthy and David 
R. Pigot, barristers, were then assigned for the defence. 
Of these gentlemen Mr. McCarthy was many years the 
senior. He possessed considerable talents, was clear 
and logical in his statements, and had a good deal of 
experience as a practitioner on th^ Munster Circuit. 
He was an excellent speaker, and always put his client^s 
case in the most favourable light. His tastes were 
literary and convivial, like those of his friend and 
boon companion. Dr. Maginn. Mr. McCarthy was 
much respected by his brethren on circuit. 

Mb. Pigot was born near Kilworth, in the county of 
Cork, and in his early life studied medicine. His father. 
Dr. Pigot, was a respectable member of that profession. 
Changing from physic to law, he, David R. Pigot, 
became a pupil of the eminent pleader, Mr. Tidd, who 
soon discovered the aptitude of his Irish law student. 
Mr. Pigot intended to remain in London, and get called 
to and practise at the English Bar ; but a friend, the 
late James Plunket, Q.C., aware how few of his con- 
temporaries in Ireland equalled him in the knowledge 



3 14 l^f^^ Munster Circuit 

of law^ especially in the science of special pleadings 
induced him to forego this intention and to practise at 
the Bar of his native land. Few law students took 
such great pains to acquire, not only a profound know- 
ledge of his future profession, but the most attractive 
mode of addressing judges and juries as Mr. Pigot did. 

At his residence, the Park, near Kilworth, he had in 
his study a cheval-glass, before which he practised 
attitudes, and his phraseology was remarkable for 
flowery and choice expressions. Though no better 
man could be selected for a law argument to the Court, 
or to address a jury in a nisi prius case, he was totally 
unfit for the defence of the Doneraile conspirators. 
He had little experience on circuit, being but three 
years called to the Bar. He had less in criminal cases, 
and therefore was utterly unable to tackle the hardened 
miscreants who came recklessly on the table, ready to 
swear away the lives of those who were objects of their 
hostility, eager only to clutch the rewards offered for 
their condemnation. 

A jury — highly respectable men, no doubt, but 
exclusively Protestant — was impanneled, and four men, 
Leary, Shine, Boche, and Magrath were given in 
charge. Leary was about seventy years old. He was 
tenant to Mr. Greagh, father of the High Sheriff, whom 
it was sworn he was resolved to murder. He had been 
paying 220Z. a year rent for over twenty years, and 
was greatly esteemed by his landlord. Shine was 
brother to a tenant of Captain Creagh, on whose land 
he lived. Magrath was brother to the man hanged at 
the previous Cork Assizes for the attack on Mr. Low, 
and Roche was a farm labourer, with somewhat doubtful 




The Munster Circuit, 3 1 5 

character. The impression in court was, that it was 
not fair to pat such a respectable man as Leary on trial 
with those whose character did not stand so high as 
his. 

The Solicitor-General stated the case. He said, 
'' The prisoners at the bar stand indicted under an Act 
of the Irish Parliament passed in the year 1796, and 
Leary for an o£Pence committed under an Act passed in 
the year 1798, for proposing, soliciting, inciting, per- 
suading, and instigating to the commission of murder, 
both which Acts made capital the offences under which 
the prisoners at the bar stood charged. These Acts, 
severe in their nature, arose out of the disastrous state 
in which society was placed in this country ; and I re- 
gret to state that my own personal observation obliges 
me to bear testimony to the salutary effects which these 
laws — so severe in their operation, but called for by 
the peculiar habits of the people— -produce, and in- 
stances of whose utility the records of this very Court 
can produce. Gentlemen, if you had the good fortune 
to be present yesterday when his Lordship addressed 
the Grand Jury, I should not find it necessary to dwell 
on the circumstances in which we are placed. It was 
done in a more able and eloquent manner than I can 
imitate. When I inform you that, at the last assizes 
held in this city, true bills were found by the Grand 
Jury against twenty-one individuals, charged with a 
conspiracy to murder a number of gentlemen of this 
county, and when, by fatal and untoward circum- 
stances, no trial took place, you will feel, notwith- 
standing the inconvenience it may be to many of you 
to be summoned from your homes at this season, that 



3 1 8 The Munster Circuit, 

and to all those wlio are distarbed in tlie qniet posses- 
sion of their homes^ their properties^ and their lives. 
I now address myself particularly to the people — 
not in the mischievous sense in which that term 
'people' is too frequently used — and to tell them 
that even the low populace are as interested^ if not 
more so, than any other class of the community in 
putting down this spirit of murderous communion of 
which they themselves are the most miserable vic- 
tims, subjecting them, as it does, to the loss of all 
that is dear and respectable, rendering them outlaws 
and fugitives, nightly marauders, bound by the blas- 
phemous sanction of an oath to do the will of some 
cautious and cowardly leader, who plans the crime but 
shrinks from the responsibility/' He then went into 
very minute details of the conduct of each prisoner, their 
offences, and the way in which he expected to prove 
their guilt. He stated the law of conspiracy, and the 
way he proposed to corroborate the evidence of accom- 
plices, so as to enable the jury to rely upon their state- 
ments, and thus concluded : " My Lords, — I have to 
apologize for the time I have taken in explaining the 
nature of the evidence I have to produce. Ton will 
point out to the jury what is particularly worthy of 
their attention. If I have brought forward accom- 
plices, their testimony coincides, as corroborated by 
circumstances, and supported by other more credible 
witnesses, and the jury will give to the circumstances 
that consideration which they may deny to the persons, 
I would call your attention to the case against Leary, 
who, removed from the temptation of poverty, remains 
loof in comparative security, sending out his less 



The Munster Circuit. 319 

guilty emissaries to execute his bloody edicts. If the 
jury believe these facts, his is not a case that will 
excite the greatest sympathy. It is not likely he will, 
in his hour of need, be altogether deserted. It is likely 
he will find many to speak for him as to character ; 
but, if the facts against him be proved, what will 
character avail f God forbid that I should strive to 
rob reputation of the importance which may attach to 
it in the hour of need, or deny its legitimate influence ; 
but it is little adapted to negative the offence laid to 
the charge of the prisoner. Of what avail is it that he 
be industrious in his pursuits, be faithful to his con- 
tracts, and sober in his habits, if foul conspiracy and 
midnight murder can be laid to his charge and traced 
to his suggestions ? There is a reign of terror that 
coerces character. I do not anticipate that any such 
wiU display itself here— that- the high-minded gentry, 
the impartial magistracy, or independent yeomanry of 
this county will stoop to such a mode of conciliating a 
disgraceful and paltry popularity. I shall now con- 
clude, observing that it rests with you to show (if these 
charges be established) whether you will succumb to 
the iron despotism which midnight marauders would 
usurp, or assert the legitimate sway of law and justice 
in this land.^^ 

These very forcible passages suflSce to give my 
readers a notion of this harangue, which lasted four 
hours, and was so unlike the cool, unimpassioned, 
matter-of-fact statements for the Grown we are accus- 
tomed to in our day, that several persons declared ^' they 
would convict the batch of prisoners upon the bare 
statement of the Solicitor-General/^ 



320 Tlte Munster Circuit 

The witnesses for the prosecution were David 
Sheehan, Patrick Nowlan, Patrick Daly, Thomas 
Murphy, and Owen Daly. These men were all either 
accomplices or spies, and they swore '^ that Leary was 
the captain, the leading conspirator ; that in a tent, at 
the fair of Eathclare, he produced a paper, or agree- 
ment, for signature by all who consented to murder 
Admiral Evans, Mr. Low, and Mr. Greagh. Several 
signed the paper, and consented to shoot the three.'' 
In confirmation of this, several warnings were given in 
evidence. Mr. Low's steward was warned not to go 
with his master to the fair of Kildorery. He, the 
steward, informed his master of this, and urged him 
not to attend the fair. Mr. Low did so in spite of the 
warning, and was fired at, but escaped unhurt. Notice 
that Mr. Creagh's carriage would be attacked was 
given, and the firing at Mr. Norcott*s in mistaike for 
Mr. Creagh's, which it closely resembled, was sworn 
to. These details were clearly proved, and though 
Messrs. McCarthy and Pigot raised several points 
upon the admissibility of evidence, which they argued 
with consummate ability, and cross-examined the 
approvers with much skill, they failed to make any 
decided impression. In addition to those witnesses 
already named, Mr. Garvan, Mr. Low, Mr. Boberts, 
Mr. Glover, and some policemen — all proving the 
neighbourhood of Doneraile to be in a very disturbed 
state — ^were next called. Then the case for the Crown 
closed, and witnesses were called for the defence. 
They were chiefly gentlemen of respectability residing 
in the neighbourhood of Doneraile : Harold Barry, 
Esq., of Bally vonere; Lieutenant Coote; Eev. Dr. 



The Munster Circuit 321 

O'Brien, parish priest of Doneraile and Vicar- General 
of the Diocese of Cloyne; Garrett Nagle, Esq., of 
Ballynamona Castle; Arthur Creagh, Esq., Leary's 
landlord; Charles Daly, brother of Patrick. The 
evidence of these witnesses went mainly to discredit 
the witnesses for the prosecution. Harold Barry, a 
resident landlord, who had great knowledge of the 
country, swore he did not consider David Sheehan or 
Patrick Daly entitled to credit on their oaths. Mr. 
Barry, a gentleman of considerable property, and of 
high position in the county, was severely cross-examined 
by the Solicitor-General. It appeared that, having a 
natural reluctance to enact the part of a detective 
policeman in entrapping a Whiteboy, he was asked 
questions which made it appear he himself was sus- 
pected of being one of that body. Other gentlemen 
swore the principal witnesses for the prosecution were 
such miscreants, they were wholly unworthy of credit, 
and Patrick Daly's brother swore '^ that Patrick asked 
him to join in plotting to convict the prisoners.'' 

But the evidence of old Mr. Creagh in favour of old 
Leary was of the most important nature. He gave 
the prisoner an excellent character for integrity and 
peaceable habits. He declared his entire disbelief 
*^ that Leary had hand, act, or part in conspiring to 
murder his son." 

The case having closed on both sides. Baron Penne- 
father proceeded to address the jury. The prisoners 
evidently felt the importance of the judge's address. 
Leary looked composed as he stood, with folded arms 
and erect head, firm, yet listening attentively. The 
learned Baron's charge was minute and rather tedious. 

Y 



322 The Munster Circuit, 

It was considered to incline against the prisoners. 
The old man said '^ John Leary^s witnesses were not 
examined/^ and it was plain the prisoners were not 
satisfied with their counsel, for Shine exclaimed, " Our 
counsellors have been bribed I '^ 

The jury, after delibei*ation for five minutes, brought 
in their verdict. They found all the prisoners guilty. 

Judge Torrens put on the black cap, dread symbol 
of death. He sentenced the four to be hanged, and 
spoke of the justice of their sentence. ^' Oh, my lord ! '^ 
cried one of the convicts, " there is no justice for us ! 
we know nothing but vengeance ! " 



/ 




The Munster Circuit, 323 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

Doneraile conspiracy contiimed. — O'Oonnell defends the remain- 
ing prisoners. — His encounter with the Solicitor-Greneral. — 
End of the special commission. 

It would be difficult to magnify the terror which seized 
the relatives of the men yet untried, when the fate of 
the first batch of the prisoners was thus sealed. They 
were aware of the infamous character of the spies and 
informers, and knew that no scruples of conscience 
would restrain these hardened caitiffs from what they 
called " swearing up to the mark '^ — so as to obtain 
convictions for the Crown. There was only one resource 
for the relatives^-only one barrier between the remaining 
prisoners and the halter; this was the skill and legal 
acumen of the greatest criminal lawyer on the Munster 
Circuit, Daniel O^Connell. Fortunately he was at Der- 
rynane, his country seat in the county of Kerry ; but 
that was ninety miles away, and there he was advertised 
to attend a meeting of the people of Kerry, in Tralee, 
respecting the Sub-letting Acts, on Tuesday. But his 
advocacy was the only one chance for the untried men, 
and on the Saturday the judges did not go into court until 
a late hour. The Solicitor-General, considering that 
the trial of the next batch of prisonrs would encroach 
on the Sunday, proposed to adjourn over until Monday 

Y 2 



324 The Munster Circuit, 

morning. Mr. McCarthy endeavoured to ascertain the 
names of the prisoners who would be tried next, but 
this the Solicitor- General could not — or would not— 
disclose. The Crown, he said, had determined to try 
every one of the prisoners, and as the same evidence 
which already procured the conviction of the four was 
applicable to all, the fears of the prisoners and their 
friends were naturally at the greatest height. 

Under these circumstances a young farmer named 
Burke, a brother of one of the prisoners, resolved to 
ride to Derrynane, and request O^Connell to come off, 
at once, to Cork, so as to act for the defence on the 
ensuing Monday. He undertook to be at Derrynane 
early on the next morning, and at five o^clock on that 
Saturday afternoon, mounted on a strong horse of power- 
ful action and singular endurance, he started on his 
errand for life or death. On he sped, heedless of the 
coming night, the lonely road, the bleak winds, the 
pelting rain. 

A bright, genial sun shone over the wild, rock-bound 
coast scenery of Derrynane, as O^Connell looked forth 
from his mountain home by the billowy sea on that 
October Sunday morning. He looked over the splin- 
tered peaks of his beloved Kerry mountains, and, after 
returning, heard the morning mass in his private chapel 
in the house. He was sitting at breakfast, when he was 
told ^^ a man, who appeared to have come a long way, 
desired to see him.'' O'Oonnell saw from his window 
that the man had arrived on horseback ; and the steam- 
ing flanks — ^the drooping head, and chest flecked with 
foam, confirmed the servant's notion, that the man had 
indeed come a long journey. 



Tlie Munster Circuit. 325 

The rider was at ouce admitted into the library. Ad- 
dressing O'Connell, he said, " I left Cork last evening 
at five o^clock, and I rode ninety miles to see you. Coun- 
sellor. The friends of the prisoners yet untried for the 
Doneraile conspiracy sent me for you. If you don^t 
undertake their defence, Doherty will hang them all. 
There/s a hundred guineas for you, and if you come 
they^l be safe; if not, they'll all be hanged.^' 

O'Connell was not proof against this compliment, 
which expressed such confidence in his professional skill. 
Though half a century had sped since he was born, he 
was hale and vigorous. He accepted the retainer, and 
promised to start at once for Cork. Burke then ex- 
pressed his wish to go with the good news, but O'Connell 
implored him, in compassion to his good horse, if not 
for himself, to take food and rest. In case that Burke 
might reach Cork before himself, O'Connell wrote a 
short note to the prisoners' attorney, informing him, 
^' he would attend to defend the remaining prisoners, as 
fast as horse could draw him ; '' and then, after a few 
hours' rest, elated at his success, William Burke com- 
menced his return journey. Eager looks were cast on 
the road to Kerry, from an early hour on that Monday 
morning. When Burke was descried the question, 
^^ What news, William ? " came from many a tongue. 
The response, " O'Connell will be here in an hour," 
elicited a shout that rang through the morning air. It 
was taken up in Blackpool, and reverberated through 
George's Street, and echoed from Patrick Street, the 
Grand Parade, and the South Mall. The joyous news 
pierced the barred dungeons, and awoke hope in the 
oppressed hearts of the prisoners awaiting their trial. 



326 The Munster Circuit 

The fathers, sons, and brothers — ^wives, mothers, and 
pisters, fell on their knees and thanked God that their 
dear ones would yet again breathe the free air of their 
native fields. 

Faithful to his promise, O'Connell was quickly on the 
road for Cork. He selected a gig as the lightest mode 
of conveyance, and drove through the glorious scenery 
of the picturesque region which never impressed him 
more than on that night journey by Killamey and the 
banks of the river Lee. O'Connell described the contrast 
between the solemn scenes through which he passed that 
night, and the stem realities of the following day in 
these words, ^^ At ten o'clock that morning, after that 
glorious feast of soul, alas ! I found myself settled down 
among all the rascalities of an Irish court of justice/' 

Shortly after nine o'clock on that Monday morning, 
26th October, 1829, the judges. Baron Pennefather and 
Judge Torrens, took their seats on the bench. There 
was considerable despondency among men of all classes, 
from the news that a Protestant clergyman, named Go- 
ing, was inhumanly murdered on the previous day, near 
Templemore, in Tipperary. It was thought this savage 
murder would influence the minds of the jurors, who 
ought to judge coolly, and to hear impartially. When 
the judges took their seats, four men, Edward Conners 
— a well-dressed, respectable-looking farmer, of large 
stature and herculean build — Barret, Wallis, and Lynch, 
all decent-looking men, were placed at the bar of the 
dock. Conners looked around him with an unembar- 
rassed air, while his companions seemed not quite so 
much at their ease. The attorney for the prisoners, 
addressing the judges, said, "My lords, an express 



The Munster Circuit 327 

messenger has just brought me a letter from Mr. 
CyConnell, informing me he will be in Cork this morn- 
ing, being retained for the prisoners. I pray your lord- 
ships to postpone the trial of these men for a short 
time, as I am sure he will be here presently/' 

After a brief consultation. Baron Pennefather said, 
" We cannot delay proceeding with the trial, as there 
is really so much to be done/' While the jury was 
being sworn, Mr. McCarthy, the counsel for the priso- 
ners, endeavoured, as much as possible, to create delay, 
being anxious that the prisoners might haye the benefit 
of O'ConnelFs advocacy. The judges saw through his 
motives, and Judge Torrens, with an epigrammatic air, 
observed, "that it was the business of the Court to 
prevent delay and defeat artifice/' A very respectable 
jury was at length impannelled, and the Solicitor-Gene- 
ral commenced his address to the jury, when, amid loud 
and continued cheers, which vires aquirit eundo, actually 
seemed to drown the sonorous tones of the Solicitor- 
Gt^neral, the tall form of O'Connell, dust-stained and 
travel-soiled, strode into the bar seats of the Cork court- 
house. He bowed courteously to the judges, and his 
salute was returned most kindly by his old circuit com- 
panion. Baron Pennefather. He apologized for his un- 
professional appearance, which of course, was excused, 
and to his request, " to be allowed some breakfast in 
Court," their Lordships said, "Most certainly/' A 
large bowl of milk and some sandwiches, plentifully cut, 
formed his morning meal j while he partook of the food 
which his toilsome journey rendered so necessary, he 
listened, with close attention, to the statement of the 
principal Crown prosecutor. On hearing a legal pro- 



328 The Munster Circuit, 

position incorrectly stated by the Solicitor-General, 
O'Connell instantly exclaimed (his mouth half full of 
bread and milk), '^That's not law!" The Solicitor- 
General insisted ifc was, and the Court was appealed to. 
The decision was in O^ConnelFs favour. Somewhat 
crestfallen, the Solicitor-General resumed, to be again 
pulled up, for; referring to an Act of Parliament which 
O^Connell knew was passed for only a limited time, he 
exclaimed, " That Act has expired." This was blow the 
second, and then the Solicitor- General adverted to the 
evidence of Mr. Harold Barry on the former trial, assert- 
ing that he had taken the Whiteboy oath, and was 
made aware of the intended attack on Mr. George Bond 
Low. His repeated allusions to Mr. Barry, a well-known 
country gentleman, residing in the neighbourhood of 
Doneraile, brought up O'Oonnell again, who remarked 
" upon the hardship imposed upon him by the then state 
of the law, prohibiting him from a speech to the jury, ^ 
and requesting that the Solicitor-General would not 
travel into the evidence on other trials, but confine his ob- 
servations to the particular case then before the Court." 

This caused the Solicitor-General to be more guarded 
in his remarks, and the remainder of his address was 
uninterrupted. 

Nearly the same witnesses produced on the former 
trial gave evidence in this case. But they were now 
cross-examined by their master. O^Connell, always 
excellent, now threw all the resources of his acute and 
vigorous mind into his task, and unmasked, with un- 
sparing questions, the Crown witnesses. It was sug- 

^ This injustice has been remedied by Statute 6 & 7 William 
ly. c. 114. "Prisoners Counsers Act." 



^SKammmim* 



The Munster Circuit. 329 

gested tl?at Sheehan and Nowlan, repenting of their 
crime, sought to make atonement by bringing their 
comrades to justice. O^Connell gave the character of 
what he scornfully called '^the repentant sinners/^ from 
their own lips, and honest men shrank from them as 
though their touch was pollution. The Solicitor- Gene- 
ral negatived the notion that any concert existed between 
the witnesses for the prosecution. O^Connell elicited 
the fact that Sheehan and Patrick Daly were constantly 
found together in Dublin, and, more important, 0^ Con- 
nellys acuteness detected many contradictions and dis- 
crepancies in the evidence. Patrick Daly was rigidly 
sifted, and one of his exclamations showed how valu- 
able O^Connell's aid was, — " It's little I thought, Mr. 
O'Connell, Fd be answering ycfu this day ! '' Owen 
Daly, who was represented by the Solicitor-General as 
" a boy of seventeen — an innocent youth, who would 
hardly have come forward had he been aware of the 
importance of his testimony,'' turned out to be a hoy of 
twenty -four years of age, and employed as an informer 
under the game laws. While under cross-examination, 
O'Connell declared, with reference to this Owen Daly, he 
"never saw such drilling oftvitnesses in all his life." 

This called up the Solicitor- General, who denied the 
imputation, and censured O'Connell for using it. In 
reply, O'Connell said, " Exception might be taken to 
Ids words, had he previously made a speech of three 
hours' duration, commenting upon evidence in a manner 
such as had never before been heard at the Irish bar." 

The Solicitor-General not onaking any reply, Mr. 
Bennett, K.C., declared *'such remarks were quite 
uncalled for." But O'Connell said "he did not mean 



330 The Munster Ciraiit, 

to suggest that the Crown counsel were the drill- 
sergeants, and his friend, Mr. Bennett, knew perfectly 
well to whom the epithet applied/* 

Throughout the day there was constant tilting between 
the Solicitor-General and O^Connell. Not content with 
brow-beating the witnesses, O'Connell endeavoured to 
brow-beat the Solicitor-General He once threatened 
him with impeachment before the House of Commons 
for his mode of conducting this prosecution. On hear- 
ing the SoHcitor- General reply, " The allegation is made 
vcfon false facts /^ O^Connell caught at the words, and 
exclaimed in a mocking tone, ^^ False facts, Mr. Solici- 
tor ! How can facts be false ? " 

" I have known false facts, and false men too,'* was 
the Solicitor-General's somewhat illogical reply. 

Another device of O'Connell to excite and irritate 
the Solicitor-General was by imitating the Anglicized 
pronunciation of that gentleman. A Mr. Twiss was 
examined for the defence, to discredit the evidence of 
Owen Daly. He swore " that Owen was not worthy of 
credit on his oath/' The Solicitor-General inquired, 
*'Had Mr. Twiss been in court during the previous trial, 
when Owen Daly gave evidence V 
The witness replied " he had." 
" Then sir," naturally remarked the Solicitor- General, 
*' it was your duty to have stated what you have now 
told us, knowing that then, as now, the lives of four 
fellow-creatures were at stake. I'll ask you no further 
question, sir. You may go down off that table." 

"Naw, daunt go dawn, sir," exclaimed O'Connell, 
mimicking with great effect the tones of the Solicitor- 
General, and, amid a roar of laughter, he elicited the 




The Munster Circuit. 331 

cause why Mr. Twiss was not produced upon the former 
trial. 

Judge Torrens charged the jury in this case. He 
went very minutely through the evidence, and the jury 
then retired to consider their verdict. After an interval 
of nearly an hour, they were called into court, but they 
had not then agreed. At two o^clock on Tuesday 
morning they had only made up their minds respecting 
Barret. He was acquitted. TKe foreman said ^' there 
was no likelihood of their agreeing with respect to the 
others.^^ 

One of the jury said '^ some of his brother jurors 
would not believe a single word sworn by Sheehan, 
Nowlan, or the Dalys.^^ The judges sought to assist 
the jury in vain. They were compelled to order the 
jury back to the room, and the judges again returned 
to their lodgings. 

The next day it was the same story. During the 
afternoon some of the jury complained of illness, one 
of gout. Physicians examined the complaining jurors, 
and reported, at six o^clock, " there was no immediate 
danger/' so the jury were sent back once more. 

Until ten o'clock they were locked in, and, once again, 
the doctors were sent to examine and report on their 
state. They stated to the Court, " that the juror affected 
with gout would be in probable danger of death if 
compelled to pass another night in the jury-room,'' and 
this induced the judges to intimate their intention to 
discharge the jury. 

Mr. McCarthy, counsel for the prisoners, contended 
a judge had no power to direct the discharge of a jury 
before they had agreed to their verdict. He was willing 



332 The Munster Ciraiit, 

the juror in danger^ should have such refreshment as he 
needed. This the Court refused to sanction. The So- 
licitor-Q-eneral maintained " the Court had the right to 
discharge the jury, whose lives were not to be risked 
under any circumstances.^^ And thus, after forty hours 
sitting together, the second trial of the Doneraile con- 
spirators ended in the disagreement of the jury, causing 
their discharge.' 

The following day, 'after the discharge of the forty 
hours' jury, at the sitting of the Court, a man named 
KeeSe was placed at the bar and arraigned as a con- 
spirator. 

The prisoner declared ^' he had come to Cork as a 
witness for the prisoners ; that, instead of being now 
taken up, he had been charged some months before with 
being one of the conspirators, and taken before magis- 
trates and police-officers, but that, upon investigation, 
no case was provable against him, and he was dis- 
charged.^' 

The counsel for the Crown informed the judges "that 
a bill of indictment had been found against Keeffe at 
the last assizes, and upon this he was now arraigned/' 

An application was then made on behalf of Conners, 
Lynch, and Wallis, for a postponement of their second 
trial. The affidavit on which the application was made 

* The following analysis has been furnished to me : — 

For acquitting Conners, Lynch, and Wallis 9 

Against acquitting them .... 3 

For acquitting all 1 

Against acquitting all . . . . 11 

Edward Morrogh, Esq., waA the juror for acquitting all the 
prisoners. 




The Munster Circuit 333 

stated a man named Denis Heireen was a material wit- 
ness for the defence; that he was willing to give evidence, 
but had been taken from the office of the attorney for 
the prisoners by Mr. Kelly, of the police, who promised 
Heireen should be forthcoming on the trial of Leary 
— ^but he was not." 

Baron Pennef ather said, '^ The Court could not fail 
to remark that the affidavit was intended to produce a 
retrospective effect, and he reminded the counsel for 
the prisoners that he told them if Heireen was a mate- 
rial witness for Leary they ought to have applied for a 
postponement of his trial until the witness was pro- 
duced. '^ The counsel who defended Leary declared *'that 
they were not responsible, because Leary insisted on his 
trial not being postponed." The result of the appli- 
cation was, that the trial of the three men, respecting 
whom the jury disagreed, was postponed to the next 
assizes. During this argument, O'Connell highly 
complimented his learned colleagues, Messrs. Francis 
McCarthy and Pigot. Baron Pennefather also stated 
he was much impressed by the able argument of Mr. 
McCarthy on the previous evening. 

On Thursday four more were put upon their trial. 
They were John Burke, John Shine, Connor, and 
Murphy. Burke and Shine were farmers. Shine was 
brother of William Shine, one of those already under 
sentence of death. The selection of the jury afforded 
the occasion for the Crown to challenge gentlemen of 
the highest respectability in the county, such as Ma- 
thias Hendley, Laurence Corban, James Morrogh, 
Rickard Deasy, &c., and an exclusively Protestant jury 
beinc( impanneled, the Solicitor-General again stated 



334 '^^ MunsUr Circuit 

the case for the prosecation. He alladed to the extent 
and nature of this formidable conspiracy^ and the dan- 
ger of landlords from the guilt of these men. The 
evidence to support the prosecution was the same as in 
former cases. Patrick Daly very glibly (for, as practice 
makes perfect, he was now well up in his tale) narrated 
the scene in the tent at the fair of Rathclare ; " how 
the assassination paper was produced for signature; 
how Burke the prisoner was there as a committee-man ; 
how he, Daly, told it all to Colonel Hill, and swore to 
it immediately after the fair/* 

While Daly was thus recounting his now thrice-told 
tale, Baron Pennefather beckoned to O'Connell, who, at 
once, went towards the bench to speak with the judge. 
They conversed for a minute or two, apparently about 
a paper which lay on the bench. His lordship, having 
handed the paper to O'Connell, the latter returned to 
the bar-seat, and read it to himself. While thus 
engaged, the examination of the witness was suspended, 
and public curiosity was greatly aroused as to the 
nature and import of this document which the senior 
judge handed to the prisoners' senior counsel. Could 
it be the fearful assassination paper ? Having atten- 
tively perused the paper, O'Connell rose to cross- 
examine Patrick Daly. Having ascertained Cousin 
Owen was not in the tent at Rathclare while the writing 
was going on, he asked '^ if the witness had described 
the tent scene to the magistrates the day after the 
fair ; if he had mentioned the assassination order ; if he 
had named the committee-men.'' To these several 
queries the witness replied, "Yes." O'Connell then 
handed him the paper given by Baron Pennefather, 




The Munster Circuit. 335 

and asted^if that was his signature/' The witness 
admitted " 'Twas like it." O'Connell then asked the 
witness, " Had he told the jury all that happened in 
the tent ? " To which Patrick Daly replied, " Well, 
then, since you want the whole foundation. Murphy 
said that there were as bad men in the county as the 
three named, that Major Maxwell and Mr. fiatwell 
ought to be killed, and that Mr. Daniel Clanchy, of 
Charleville, would give lOOZ. to whoever killed either 
gentleman, or 200Z. for the two." 

It turned out that the deposition of Patrick Daly — 
the document handed by Baron Pennefather to 
O'Connell — ^while stating the oflfer of Mr. Daniel 
Clanchy (one of the most respectable Catholic magis- 
trates of the county) made before Colonel EGll the day 
after the fair of Rathclare, did not contain one word 
about the assassination order. It transpired that these 
informations had not been returned to the Clerk of 
the Peace, but that Baron Pennefather had to send 
for them. 

Mr. Owen Daly, the next witness, completely con- 
tradicted Cousin Pat. The latter swore Owen was not 
with him in the tent at Bathclare, while Owen swore 
he was. 

So many important discrepancies existed in the 
swearing of the witnesses for the prosecution on this 
trial that, after a long charge from Baron Pennefather, 
the jury, in five minutes, brought in their verdict of 

NOT GUILTY. 

We can readily imagine with what joy this verdict 
of an exclusively Protestant jury was hailed by all in 
court. It was said, the judges were perfectly satisfied 



336 TIte Munster Circuit 

with it, and one of them, addressing Mr. Bennett, 
said, ^' George, let me not see your face here again." 

Next day, the Solicitor-General informed the judges 
'^ that his learned friends and himself had come to the 
determination not to proceed with any farther trials, 
and that the Crown had no objection that the untried 
prisoners should be allowed out on bail." This pro- 
posal being acceded to, the Solicitor-General spoke in 
very laudatory terms of the gentlemen who promoted 
these prosecutions. O'Connell complimented the 
judges, and much gratitude was expressed by the 
people for O'ConnelPs services. 

The execution of Leary, Shine, Roche, and Magrath 
was ruled for the 14th of November, but they were 
never executed. Their sentence was changed into 
transportation for life. 

At the Spring Assizes of 1830, Conners, Wallis, and 
Lynch, the three men about whom the jury disagreed 
at the special commission, were again tried, and on 
this occasion they were defended by a very able 
criminal lawyer, who subsequently had the dock to 
himself on the Munster Circuit, William Deane Free- 
man. Conners and Wallis were acquitted. Lynch found 
guilty, and hanged. O'Connell, in the House of 
Commons, on the 12 th of May, 1830, moved for copies 
of the depositions of Patrick Daly, and the notes of the 
judges who presided over the Special Commission. 
He strongly censured the conduct of the Solicitor- 
General. But the Solicitor- General was well able to 
protect himself from any such attack, and did it so 
successfully that the motion was negatived by a large 
majority — 70 to 12. 




TJie Munster Circuit 337 

While the Crown counsel on the Munster Circuit 
were engaged on the Doneraile Conspiracy Commission^ 
the rest of the members were occupied in redressing 
the injury sustained by a member of the Bar in the 
following extraordinary way. 



/. 



338 The Munster Circuit. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

Consequences of Committing a Barrister. — Case of Mr. Croke 
of the Irish Bar. — Correspondence between the Magistrates 
and Lord Chancellor Hart. 

On the 29th of August, 1829, James Croke, Esq., 
barrister, proceeded to the Petty Sessions Court at 
Bruff, in the county of Limerick, having been in- 
structed to appear in a civil proceeding to recover 
penalties under the statute 57 Geo. III. c. 108. The 
magistrate's clerk, on learning Mr. Croke was a bar- 
rister, offered him the seat usually occupied by pro- 
fessional gentlemen, which Mr. Croke declined. The 
presiding justices of the peace were Darby O'Grady 
and Michael Bevan, Esqs. When the case in which 
Mr. Croke was retained was called, he informed the 
bench, ^Hhat he appeared as counsel.^' Mr. O'Grady 
said, ''it was a rule established by the Court that 
counsel should not be heard." To this Mr. Croke 
replied, "It was a rule which might be departed 
from.'' Mr. O'Grady remarked, "We have made the 
rule, and shall not depart from it." Mr. Croke 
answered, "He thought such a rule was unconstitu- 
tional." 

This observation seems to have annoyed the magis- 




The Munster Circuit 339 

trate, for Mr. O'Grady responded, " What signifies to 
us what you think ? '' 

This aroused Mr. Croke, who said, " What he 
thought was of as much consequence as what the 
magistrate thought." 

Upon this, Mr. O'Grady, in the presence of his 
fellow-magistrate, ordered the police, who were in 
attendance, to ''take the counsellor and put him in 
the dock," which order was instantly obeyed. No 
doubt Mr. Croke felt highly indignant. He was 
placed before all the people, in the dock appropriated 
to felons, and then occupied by a man who had been 
sentenced. When the justices considered " the coun- 
sellor'* had apprehended the difference between a 
justice on the Bench, and a member of the Bar, one of 
them proposed to liberate the counsellor, " if he made 
an apology/* 

The captive thus coerced declared, ''that no man 
had a higher respect for the administration of justice 
than he had, and if he had oflfended he was sorry for 
it." The admission appearing sufficiently apologetic 
the counsellor was suffered to go at large. 

There was, naturally, considerable excitement among 
the peasantry at this incarceration, for Mr. Croke's 
brother was the respected parish priest of a neighbour- 
ing parish, Charleville, and there was much anxiety as to 
what steps would be taken in consequence of this most 
audacious infringement on the liberty of a member 
of the Bar. Action was promptly taken. Mr. Croke 
went to Dublin, and in Michaelmas Term a meeting of 
the Bar of Ireland was convened. The meeting drew 
up a memorial to the then Lord Chancellor of Ireland, 

z 2 



340 The Munster Circuit. 

Sir Anthony Hart^ calling his attention to the conduct 
of the two magistrates. 

Upon the receipt of this document the Lord Chan- 
cellor wrote to Mr. O'Grady as follows : — 

''Dublin, Dec. 11,1829. 

'' Sir, — The memorial I transmit with this letter was 
sent to me by direction of the assembled Bar of Ire- 
land. The proceedings at the sessions to which it 
refers surprised me when I first heard of them. As 
the head of that body to whom his Majesty confided 
the dispensation of justice to his subjects in this 
xiountry, it is my duty to inform you that it is the 
privilege of those subjects to be heard by counsel in 
all his courts, for supporting and defending their civil 
rights ; and the rule last laid down in the court wherein 
you preside, precluding that privilege, is illegal, and 
must be immediately rescinded. 

'' I am, &c., 

''Anthony Hart, C. 

" Darby O'Grady, Esq." 

Mr. O'Grady lost not a moment in replying to the 
Lord Chancellor thus : — 

''Bruff,Dec. 12,1829. 

''My Lord, — ^I have had the honour, this day, to 
receive your lordship's letter of the 11th instant, en- 
closing me a memorial sent to your lordship by the 
assembled Bar of Ireland, and expressing your lord- 
ship's surprise at the proceedings at the sessions, when 
you first heard of them. 

'' Your lordship's letter, and the memorial enclosed 
in it, I shall lay before the magistrates at the petty 




The Munster Circuit, 34 1 

sessions at Bruff, on Wednesday next, which is the 
weekly day of meeting. 

" I fear your lordship has been imposed on in the 
account of these proceedings, and that the assembled 
Bar have acted with somewhat too credulous a haste 
in giving implicit belief to an ex "parte statement, 
made by an individual who naturally wishes to con- 
vince others that he has been ill-used, and to persuade 
so respectable a body as the Bar to make common 
cause with him ; and my surprise is extreme that so 
very experienced and talented an assembly should 
have so easily lent themselves to his views, though 
there are, certainly, some individuals in that body who 
ought to be perfectly aware that, although a state- 
ment may be very positively asserted, it may, never- 
theless, not be true, and in some instances has been 
retracted even by the person who made it; and this 
knowledge ought to have deterred a legal body from 
coming to any decision on such , very questionable 
grounds without any previous investigation whatever. 
Before I send your lordship any statement of Mr. 
Croke^s misconduct, and the reasons which induced 
my brother magistrate, Mr. Bevan, and myself to act 
towards him as we did, it will be necessary for me to 
see Mr. Bevan. In the meantime I beg to assure your 
lordship that Mr. Croke was committed for a very 
violent riot in the court, such as rendered absolutely 
necessary the harsh measures which were adopted 
towards him. 

^' I have the honour to be, &c., 

" Dabby O'Gkady. 

'' To the Kight Hon. the Lord Chancellor.'' 



342 The Munster Circuit, 

There was no evasion here, at all events. The com- 
mittal of the barrister was admitted, but justified on 
the ground of his violence. A few days brought the 
statement of the magistrates to the Chancellor, as 
follows : — 

"December 16, 1829. 

" Mt Loed, — At a petty sessions, held at Bruff on 
the 26th August last, the undersigned were the pre- 
siding magistrates, and the court was unusually 
crowded. A case against the toll-keeper of the fair 
of Drummin, was called on. A person addressed the 
Bench from the midst of the crowd, under the gallery 
and at the back of the court. The magistrates desired 
him, if he had anything to say to the case before the 
Court to come forward and say it. This person then^ 
without moving from hia place in the crowd, which was 
pressing on, said he i^as engaged in the case. The 
magistrates told him they could not listen to him, as it 
was a rule of the Court not to hear professional persons. 
This person then said the rule ought to be departed 
from, and was, he thought, unconstitutional. The 
magistrates replied it was the rule of the Court, and 
that what he thought of it could not induce them to 
depart from it. He then added, that what he thought 
of it was of as much consequence as what they thought 
of it. He then became silent, and the case before the 
Court was proceeding, when the business of the Court 
was interrupted by a very general riot and disturbance^ 
occasioned by the mob forcing its way into the court, 
and this person at its head, advancing in a riotous, 
menacing manner, using abusive and insulting expres- 
sions to the magistrates, and holding up his clenched 



The Munster Circuit. 343 

fist towards them in a threatening attitude. The 
magistrates instantly desired the police to put this 
person in the dock, and he was put in accordingly. 
He so remained in the dock fifteen or twenty minutes, 
when, on making an ample apology for his misconduct, 
he was dismissed. Here it may be necessary to remark, 
this person heard the Bench refuse to hear a profes- 
sional gentleman (stating the rule forbade it), and, 
also, he saw a man committed to the dock for insulting 
one of the magistrates, and that both these occurrences 
took place immediately previous to his first addressing 
the Court. He therefore knew the rule of the Court, 
and he was also aware of the ofience for which his com- 
panion in the dock was committed, and he therefore 
knew he was not a perjurer. 

" The magistrates had never seen this person before, 
but after he was some time in the dock they were told 
his name was Croke, and that he was a barrister. This, 
the magistrates think it right to state that neither 
the rank nor profession of any person could have 
shielded him in a court where they preside from the 
punishment due to such gross misconduct. 

'^ From the unusually thronged state of the court, 
from the noise proceeding from the crowd, and from 
the post in the centre of it taken by Mr. Croke, the 
magistrates early apprehended a riot, and their sus- 
picion lighted upon Mr. Croke as its probable leader. 
There was nothing in Mr. Croke^s appearance or 
manner to alter this unfavourable impression ; his face 
was partly disguised, as if to prevent his being recog- 
nized, and from his dress and deportment, and the 
whole tenor of his conduct, the magistrates never sus- 



■P 



344 The Munster Circuit. 

pected he wa49 a gentleman^ and had considerable 
doubts whether he was sober. These very unfavour- 
able impressions on the minds of the magistrates have 
received strong confirmation from information which 
has since reached them^ and they beg to call your lord- 
ship's attention to the following facts: — When Mr. 
Croke entered the Brufi* petty sessions court, which is 
also the quarter sessions court-house, he addressed the 
crowd collected in the hall, in a loud and distinct voice, 
and told them he was come there to humble the magis- 
trates; that he would be assistant-barrister for that 
day, and several other such-like observations. The 
clerk of the court, seeing Mr. Croke was a stranger, 
and hearing he was a barrister, offered to conduct him 
to the seat set apart for professional persons, which 
offer Mr. Croke declined. The police did open a pas- 
sage for Mr. Croke to take his proper station in the 
court, which Mr. Croke once more declined doing, and 
kept his station in the midst of the crowd at the back 
of the court. This place Mr. Croke occupied during 
his conversation with the magistrates, nor did he leave 
it until he began the riot for which he was committed, 
and he was not arrested in his scandalous career until 
he had reached the bench, and was proceeding to 
scramble into it. 

" The magistrates beg, in conclusion, to assure your 
lordshp that, in their own observations, backed by the 
information they have received from others, they are 
convinced that Mr. Croke came to the petty sessions 
at Bruff, on the 26th of August last, with the intention 
of creatiug a riot, that he did afterwards create a riot, 
and that, consistently with the duty they owe to their 



Tfu Munster Circuit. 345 

country, to the administration of the laws entrusted 
to them, and to their own characters as magistrates 
and gentlemen, the most lenient course they could 
have pursued towards Mr. Croke was that which they 
adopted. 

*^ With respect to reparation, the magistrates think, 
from the perusal of this statement, your lordship will 
perceive it would be due from Mr. Croke to them, had 
not that person already atoned for his misconduct by a 
very full and satisfactory apology. 

"The magistrates feel great delicacy in making any 
allusion to the memorial presented by the assembled 
Bar of Ireland, and which your lordship has transmitted 
to them. The magistrates hold the Bar, collectively, 
in high esteem ; to many members of thiftt respectable 
profession they are bound by ties of the nearest and 
dearest; with great reluctance, therefore, they are 
obliged to offer an observation on that very extraordi- 
nary document. 

" It may be doubted whether any body whatever 
(ajid the Bar are no exception) should be. allowed to 
decide on their own privileges ; but when, in the 
assertion of these privileges, foul imputations are to be 
cast on others, there can be no doubt that the greatest 
caution should mark their proceedings. In the resolu- 
tions of the Bar, the magistrates do not see that extreme 
caution which they should have expected from so august 
an assembly. The Bar began by taking for granted a 
statement the truth of which they do not pretend to 
have investigated, but in the faith of which they do not 
hesitate to adjudicate ; and, accordingly, they pronounce 
sentence on magistrates over whom they cannot pre- 



346 The Munster Circuit, 

sume to have any control ; and, finally, they call upon 
your lordship to carry into execution this well-digested 
condemnation. 

^' It seems awkward that when lawyers are employed, 
legally and constitutionally, to protect and enforce the 
rights of others, time and money are squandered in 
lavish profusion before any conclusion can be arrived 
at; but when they undertake their own cause, with 
a hop, step, and a jump, they can clear away every 
obstacle, pronounce their sentence, and leaving law, 
justice, and jury far behind, with an unpardonable 
temerity call upon your lordship to become their exe- 
cutioner. 

" We have the honour to be, &c., 

'*^Daeby O'Gtrady, 
Michael Bbvan/' 

It is hard to say what impression the fearless state- 
ment of the county Limerick magistrates made on the 
Lord Chancellor. He thought such discrepancy as 
existed between the account of the Bruff dock business, 
given by Mr. Croke on the one hand, and the Bruff 
magistrates on the other, could only be determined 
by the intervention of a jury. This view he puts in his 
reply to the statement : — 

" DwWm, Dec. 22, 1829. 

'* Gentlemen, — The memorial of the Irish Bar which 
1 transmitted to you, was sent for the purpose of your 
making such observations on it as the case might 
require ; for though I had no difficulty in expressing 
my opinion on the facts as there stated, it was not my 
intention to exclude any explanation or counter-state- 




The Munster Circuit. 347 

ment, or to prejudge a question affecting the magis- 
tracy, without affording them an opportunity to vindi- 
cate themselves. Your statement to me shall be sent to 
the adjourned meeting of the Bar, on the same prin- 
ciple that their memorial was communicated to you, and 
should the difference be found irreconcilable, it must, 
I fear, be referred to a different jurisdiction from that 
which the Chancellor exercises. 

" I am, &c., 

" Anthony Haet, C. 
" To Darby O'Grady and Michael Bevan, Esqs.^' 

Instead of an action for false imprisonment, an action 
for libel was brought by Mr. Croke against the two 
magistrates; the alleged libel being the imputations 
cast upon him in the statement submitted to the Lord 
Chancellor. 

The case came on for trial in the Court of Common 
Pleas, Dublin, before Lord Plunket, Chief Justice; 
and Messrs. Perrin and Holmes were counsel for the 
plaintiff. 

Mr. Long, the Lord Chancellor's secretary, was called 
on by the plaintiff's counsel to produce the statement 
containing the alleged libel, and thereupon a novel 
point arose. Mr. Long stated, '^ The Lord Chancellor 
considers that, under the circumstances in which the 
letter came to his lordship's hands, he does not think 
it ought to be produced, but his lordship wished it to 
be mentioned, that if Lord Plunket thought differently^ 
the Lord Chancellor would yield to the opinion of the 
Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas." 

Mr. Holmes, for the plaintiff, contended, " His client 



348 The Munster Circuit, 

was entitled to the production of this document. He 
submitted it lay with the Chief Justice to determine 
the point, and not for any witness, however respect- 
able/' 

Lord Plunket '^agreed with Mr. Holmes; he was 
the arbiter, but it was quite impossible not to remem- 
ber who was the witness here. He could not refuse to 
respect the scruples of the Keeper of the Seal. What- 
ever his own opinion was, he ought to defer to that of 
the Chancellor. He felt less reluctance in so doing 
because, if wrong, there was an appeal to the full 
Court.'' 

Mr. Bennett, K.C., who was counsel for the defen- 
dants, contended this was a privileged communication, 
and relied upon Wyat v, Gore,^ and Hone v. Bentinck.' 

Mr. Holmes, in reply, argued "this was neither a 
confidential nor privileged communication, as in the 
cases cited. He relied on a case in 1st Saunders, 
p. 131." 

Lord Plunket said, " When so high a judge as the 
Lord Chancellor regarded this as a privileged commu- 
nication, it would ill become him to hold the contraiy, 
at least without a conference with him on the subject." 
He adjourned the court for this purpose, and, on 
resuming, Lord Plunket said, "He had the oppor- 
tunity of hearing the Chancellor's opinion, which was 
that he ought not to produce the document. He (Lord 
Plunket), could not rule against that opinion, and as 
the plaintiff must be nonsuited, requested he would 
obtain the judgment of the full court. He had, how- 

1 " Holt's Nisi Prius Cases," p. 290. » 3rd Bingham. 



The Munster Circuit, 349 

ever, this suggestioa to make : let the case be tried on 
consent that a copy of the document be received as 
the original, subject to the point, that if the Court was 
of opinion the original document ought not to be 
produced, the evidence on the copy should go for 
nothing/^ 

This suggestion was adopted. The trial proceeded, 
and the plaintiff clearly showed the allegations of the 
statement were libels. The jury found for the plaintiff, 
500Z. damages, and 6(2. costs. It does not appear that 
any attempt was made to disturb the verdict. Mr. 
Croke received a colonial appointment, that of Solicitor- 
General in New South Wales, where he remained many 
years, and realized a handsome independence. He 
returned to his native country and died. His nephew 
is now the highly-gifted and justly-respected Prelate, 
Dr. Croke, Archbishop of Cashel. 



/V 



350 The Munster Circuit, 



CHAPTER XXV. 

Eminent members of the Munster Bar from 1833 to 1850.— 
Sergeant Jackson, M.P. — George Bennett, Q.C. — Mr. Collins, 
Q.C. — Mr. Henn, Q.C. — His first brief on the Munster Cir- 
cuit.— Mr. J. D. Fitzgerald. — Mr. Brereton. — Mr. Otway. — 
Mr. Isaac Butt. — Mr. Chatterton. — Mr. Wyndham Groold, 
M.P. 

When I joined the Munster Circuit in 1838, the leaders 
were Mr. Sergeant Jackson, M.P., Mr. Bennett, Q.C, 
Harry Cooper, Q.C, Jonathan Henn, Q.C., and 
Stephen Collins, Q.C Mr. Woulfe, Q.C, who for 
many years liad been a very eminent member of the 
Munster Circuit, was, in the year 1834, appointed 
third sergeant. In 1836 he was made Attorney- 
General, and in 1838, on the death of Chief Baron 
Joy, Mr. Woulfe succeeded him as Chief Baron ; but, 
alas for the mutability of all earthly greatness, this 
distinguished lawyer had no sooner attained the dis- 
tinction of the Bench, than bodily infirmities seized 
him, and, after a struggle for two years, he died in 
1840. 

At this period Mr. Pigot, another leader of the 
Munster Circuit, was Attorney-General for Ireland, so 
those I have named had the leading business of the 
Circuit. And well were they able to cope with it. 



The Munster Circuit. 351 

Joseph Devonsher Jackson was an admirable nisiprius 
lawyer, greatly respected by all his brethren of the 
Bar, and by the public at large. Though of high 
Conservative politics, no one ever knew what his 
politics were in the discharge of his professional duties, 
or his intercourse with the members of the Bar mess. 
He possessed great fluency, an impressive court manner, 
great sagacity in selecting his topics for the jury.* 

George Bennett, Q.C, the father of the Munster 
Circuit in my time, was bom in the city of Cork on 
the 20th September, 1777. His father was a judge 
of the Court of King^s Bench. Mr. Bennett was 
called to the Bar in 1800, and soon went the Munster 
Circuit. He had many excellent ingredients for pro- 
fessional success — considerable legal knowledge, a 
clearness in statement, and remarkable insight into 
the character of the lower orders of the Irish. For 
many years he held the then very lucrative office of 
Crown Prosecutor on the entire Circuit, and the con- 
fidence reposed in him by the public often caused him 
to be employed as an arbitrator. It is said when he 
was offered to be made King's Counsel by Lord 
Manners, Chancellor in 1822, he said, "Fd rather he 
gave a silk gown to my wife.'^ However, he accepted 
the rank^ which gave him legal standing. 

In the profession one great cause of his success was 
his plain, unpretending style of addressing juries. 
The utter absence of pretension in his mode of speak- 
ing, the unadorned, conversational tone he employed, 
gave him almost implicit credence with witnesses and 

' Sergeant Jackson became Solicitor- Greneral in 1841, and 
sat for many years on the Bench of the Common Pleas. 



352 Tlu Munster Circuit. 

juries. Indeed, it seemed as if some juries, after his 
statement, were unwilling to be put to' the delay of 
hearing his statement borne out by witnesses, as they 
could not imagine anything could be more conclusive 
than his words. Before the members of the Munster 
Circuit adopted the habit of wearing wigs and gowns 
on circuit, George Bennett, in his dark shooting-coat, 
plaid waistcoat, and grey or check trousers, might easily 
have been taken for a gentleman farmer, instead of an 
astute lawyer, and the leader of the Munster Bar. 

Stephen Collins was also one of the leaders of the 
Munster Circuit. Nature evidently designed him for 
the profession he had chosen. At school he was a 
diligent scholar, in college an unwearied student, at 
the Bar a most painstaking and learned practitioner. 
On the Circuit he was retained in almost every case on 
one side or the other, and his knowledge of cases in 
point, his readiness to discuss admissibility of evidence, 
or to take advantage of any defect in his adversary's 
pleadings, showed how important it was to secure or 
silence his advocacy. No one approached him in 
quickness to except to the charge of a learned judge, 
to detect some weakness in his adversary's proofs, en- 
titling the defendant to a nonsuit. His familiarity with 
the rules of pleading, his promptnes at applying the 
rules of evidence, the conflicts between him and his sin- 
gularly gifted brother-in-law, Jonathan Henn, were not 
only improving to mark, but often amusing to observe. 

It often struck me Mr. Collins took as much pleasure 
in discussing abstruse questions of law as a foxhound 
in pursuing sly Reynard. He breathed an atmosphere 
of law, and it is related that on his way back from 



The Munster Circuit. 353 

church after being married, he stopped his bride's 
carriage at a law stationer's to buy a law book, and, 
after leaving her at home went to a consultation. 
When going to the castle, to the Lord-Lieutenant's 
Jmees, he was seen reading his briefs. From his readi- 
ness in upsetting an adversary on some technical 
point he was thought rather a sharp practitioner, and 
an anecdote, bearing on this, may be quoted here. 

When Mr. Pigot, who had been called to the Bar 
later than Mr. Collins, but obtained his rank as King's 
Counsel before him, was retained in a case with him, 
on the question of leadership arising, Mr. Collins said, 
'^ 1 yield, my friend holds the honours" 

" If he does, Stephen," wittily observed his friend, 
Mr. Herrick, " 'tis you have all tJis tricks." 

Mr. Collins was sagacious and careful. Though I 
have had frequently an opportunity of hearmg him 
address juries, there was nothing very eloquent in his 
speech worthy of special remark. His addresses were 
clear and careful narratives, supporting some legal 
propositions, which were ingeniously dovetailed to- 
gether, so as to impress the jury with his view of 
the case. His appearance was very prepossessing. 
Methinks I see him now, his youthful face denoting 
quick intelligence — ^his eyes aided by spectacles — ^his 
small mouth indicating firmness and decision. I rather 
think his early death was owing to having overtaxed 
a frame never very robust. Often have I seen him 
suffering from rheumatic pains, yet addressing juries 
on circuit. He was, as he well deserved to be, a 
general favourite. 

Habby Coofeb, Q.C, was quite a character. His 

A a 



354 ^^^ Munster Circuit, 

craniam^ bare as a billiard ball^ his Jewish cat of 
countenance^ his quick black eyes^ his pleasant^ playful 
smile, once seen could not be readily forgotten ; and 
then his flow of words — ^what an avalanche it was — 
quick as they could pass the lips rolled forth his 
arguments in one rapid and resistless flood. I neyer 
heard anything like it. Some one happily said, 
^'Cooper had the knack of talking short-hand/' but 
he defied stenography. No pen or pencU could catch 
him. 

He was called to the Bar in Hilary Term, 1806, 
and was made King's Counsel in 1835. He had con- 
siderable practice, was an excellent Common-law 
lawyer, a good pleader, and a safe writer on cases.' 

Of Jonathan Henn, Q.C., I cannot speak too highly. 
Yet he was so intensely devoid of ambition, and so 
indisposed to exertion, he remained all his professional 
life either a member of the Munster Circuit, or chair- 
man of the county of Donegal, when, by working for 
dignities, he would assuredly have held a Chief Judge- 
ship or the Seals. His legal acquirements were of the 
highest order. He had, I may say, hereditary claims 
to legal distinction. His ancestor was Chief Baron 
Henn ; his grandfather a judge of the Court of King^s 
Bench; his father a Master in Chancery, a dignity 
which his elder brother, William, held for many years. 

Jonathan Henn was only twenty-one years of age when 
he was called to the Bar. His brother William having 
selected the Munster, Jonathan went the Connaught 
Circuit. This circuit was then led by Mr., afterwards 

2 Mr. Cooper died in May, IS^l. 



The Munster Circuit. 355 

Judge Vandeleur, K.C. So great was this barrister's 
opinion of the legal abilities of Jonathan Henn, Mr. 
Yandeleur invariably sought his advice in all cases of 
difficulty that arose. I am surprised that this opinion 
of the leader of the circuit did not influence the Con- 
naught attorneys to send Mr. Henn briefs. It is said, 
however, that when he got one, in which he had to 
examine a witness, he did it so badly, his senior took 
the witness out of his hands, and concluded the exami« 
nation, which, no doubt, was a great slur to the junior 
counsel. 

Another story is told of a Galway attorney calling, 
with a brief, at his lodgings in Galway, during the 
Assizes, before Jonathan rose from his bed. The 
' attorney awaited the lazy barrister, who had to be 
roused from a sound sleep. When told an attorney 
wanted him in the next room, Henn thought it was a 
trick of the junior Bar, and said he needn't wait. 
Being informed he had a brief to give him, Henn 
called out, still thinking it was a rusey "to take the 

brief to the D .'' The attorney, in a rage, left the 

house, and Henn lost his brief. 

Soon after, the appointment of his brother William, 
as Master in Chancery, induced Jonathan to exchange 
the Connaught for the Munster Circuit. He was, of 
course, unknown to the practitioners, but had power- 
ful friends among the county gentlemen of Clare. A 
very important record, in which a watercourse question 
was involved — was to be tried in Tralee, and the plain- 
tiff had secured all the leading lawyers on the Munster 
Circuit, with the celebrated Mr. Edward Pennefather, 
K.C, as special counsel. The defendant, Mr. Tuthell, 

A a 2 



3S6 The Munster Circuit. 

of Faha^ in the county Limerick, complained bitterly 
to two Clare gentlemen, Heffernan Consedene and 
Giles Daxon, both respectable gentlemen, and personal 
friends of the Henn family, " how successfiilly all the 
leading members of the Munster Bar had been 
secured by the plaintiff's attorney, and how he, the 
defendant, could not obtain even special counsel 
from Dublin, as all he sent retainers to were pre- 
engaged/' 

''The consequence is," said Mr. Tuthell, "if the 
plaintiff succeeds I'm a ruined man." 

" That's a bad look out, Tuthell," said Giles Daxon ; 
''but perhaps you have yet a chance. Tell me, did 
you try to retain Jonathan Henn ? " 

" Jonathan Henn," repeated Tuthell. " Who is he ? * 
I never heard of any barrister of that name f " 

" Do you hear this, Heff ? " cried Daxon, slyly 
winking at his countryman. "Tuthell never heard 
of Jonathan Henn. Never heard of the cleverest 
lawyer in Ireland ? " 

" By George ! " chimed in Consedene, " he is the 
cleverest man at the Bar. If my life or property were 
at stake, I'd rather have him as my counsel than all 
the other lawyers on the Munster Circuit.'^ 

Thus they puffed off their personal friend, who they 
knew to be an excellent lawyer, though unknown to 
the public. When Jonathan Henn entered Tralee 
for the Assizes, he found a heavy brief — with twenty 
guineas — awaiting him, on behalf of Mr. Tuthell, with 
William Deane Freeman as his junior, llie rest is 
soon told. He mastered the brief — and, undismayed, 
surveyed the redoubtable Edward Pennefather, Ser- 



The Munster Circuit. 357 

geant Goold, and other leaders of the Munster Circuit 
arrayed against his client. 

The pleadings opened, Mr. Pennefather, in his 
dulcet tones, and impressive manner, stated the plain- 
tiflPs case. The first, and most important witness, was 
examined by the senior counsel, and cross-examined 
by Jonathan Henn. Then the wonderful abilities — 
which hitherto — ^like the ore of the mine — ^had lain un- 
seen and unnoticed, now revealed, burst forth in bright- 
ness, and showed their value. The answers he elicited 
from the witness demolished the plaintiff's case so 
completely that, when Mr. Henn finished his cross- 
examination, Mr. Pennefather threw up the case. Mr. 
Tuthell had the verdict, and Jonathan Hennas reputa- 
tion, as the ablest lawyer on the Munster Circuit, was 
fully established. 

For some time after this triumph he was known by 
the souh-iquet of " the Water hen" 

'' Able and gifted as he was,'' writes his accomplished 
nephew, Mr. Eichard Griffith, '' he never rose to address 
a jury without a nervous and uncomfortable feeling, which 
made him feel a longing to sit down,, and, accordingly, 
at the age of sixty, he retired, as he had long in- 
tended, from the active duties of his profession, retain- 
ing his A.B., CD., or Assistant-Barristership, County 
Donegal, till the age of seventy, which he then resigned 
on a pension." 

Refusing to enter Parliament, he never was promoted 
to office. We have often felt what a Chief Justice or 
Lord Chancellor was lost in him. He resided in Dub- 
lin, in Upper Merrion Street ; but died in Bray, whither 
he had gone for the summer of 1874. 






358 The Munster Circuit, 

Hennas voice was fnll-toned, and suited to his per- 
sonal appearance^ and to his calm, impressive delivery. 
He spoke in such a tone of judicial impartiality that a 
casaal listener would have supposed he addressed the 
jury on the entire merits of the case, when, in fact, he 
was only advocating his client^s share of it. When an 
important case tried in Cork — Jagoe v. Hungerford — 
to ascertain the genuineness of a contested will, 
brought down the far-famed orator of the Irish Bar, 
James 'Whiteside, subsequently Chief Justice of the 
Queen^s Bench, as special counsel for the plaintiff, a 
lady told me she accompanied several friends of hers 
to listen to the speeches of the counsel on both sides. 
I asked her what she thought of them. '^ I thought," 
she said, ^' the defendant must be in the right. Mr. 
Henn hoked so Iwnest, and during his speech he seemed 
only to think of his client, while Mr. Whiteside seemed 
never to forget— Mr. Whiteside." 

That Mr. Henn was indisposed to undertake severe 
work may be inferred from the following anec- 
dote : — 

" Mr. John Macnamara Cantwell, a very eminent 
solicitor of Dublin, hearing of Mr. Hennas reputation 
on the Munster Circuit, sought his services in a heavy 
equity cause. He saw the leading counsel of Munster 
lounging about the hall, and, accosting him, held out 
the brief marked with a large fee." 

'^ The case is important," said Mr. Cantwell, tendering 
him the fee, '^and much is expected from you, Mr. 
Henn." 

" Oh ! my dear sir," said the Queen's Counsel, quietly 
pushing back the hand with the bank-notes ^' you had 



The Munster Circuit. 359 

better give the brief to some gentleman who will 
attend to it/^ 

Mr. Henn was in very independent circumstances, 
and devoted to the sport of fishing. Having no 
domestic cares — ^he never married — chairman for the 
county of Donegal, with lucrative circuit practice, and 
some private fortune, he preferred ease to labour, and 
the sport he loved, to toil he disliked. Yet on circuit 
he flinched from no trouble in mastering his briefs. I 
never found him wanting either in reference to facts 
or law. His speeches were masterpieces of forensic 
oratory, unadorned it may be, yet perfectly suited to 
the occasion, and clear as a running stream. He used, 
in his speeches throughout, what * some one aptly 
called ^' the level language of the gentleman,^' and, as 
an admirer of his once said to me, '' Sir, Mr. Henn, 
both practically and theoretically is a gentleman*^' 

Beside these very distinguished leaders of the 
Munster Circuit there were many others, who, 
full of learning and ability, were biding their time. 
Many have since passed away. Some, who at one 
time went circuit without briefs, now dispense law 
from the Bench, while others got rapidly into practice, 
and, from the very outset in their professional career, 
proved their capacity for business. Foremost of this 
latter class was a young gentleman who joined the 
Munster Bar about the same time as I did ; we were 
called side by side in Easter Term, 1838. His name 
was John David Fitzgerald. The legal education of this 
most able member of the circuit commenced in his 
early youth, and was pursued with intense application. 
When he was called, at the age of twenty-three, he 



360 The Munster Circuit. 

was a very distinguished lawyer. I happened to be 
present in the Court of Exchequer when he made one 
of his first arguments in a contested motion^ and I was 
much struck with the cool, self-possessed manner in 
which he addressed the Court, and the able reasoning 
by which he gained his point, greatly to the surprise 
of Mr. Walsh the opposing counsel, who imagined the 
Chief Baron (Woulfe) had ruled in his favour. By 
this argument Mr. Fitzgerald gained the approbation 
of the Bench, the esteem of the Bar, and probably 
more important to the junior counsel, the hearty ad- 
miration of the attorneys, who soon sought his services. 
His life, thenceforward, for some years, was of intense 
and continuous labour. He told me, as we were leaving 
the library of the Pour Courts, on the last day in 
Term for drawing declarations, ''he had been at his 
desk at three o'clock that morning." On circuit, as 
when in Dublin, he was eminent in. business, and few 
ever went into court better prepared. His practice 
in every assize town on the circuit was very great. 
When but nine years at the Bar, in 1847, he received 
the silk gown of Queen's Counsel, and then became 
one of the leaders of the Munster Circuit. He was 
desirous of parliamentary duties, and, in 1852, was 
returned M.P. for Bnnis, which he continued to repre- 
sent while at the Bar. His position soon made him 
sought for as a law oflScer of the Government, and 
he was appointed Solicitor-Greneral in 1856, and suc- 
ceeded Mr. Keogh as Attorney- General in 1858. On 
the resignation of Judge Perrin in 1860 the Right 
Hon. the Attorney-General became the fourth Justice 
of the Queen^s Bench. 



The Munster Circuit. 361 

The tribute from the leading Conservative organ in 
Ireland to his merits at the Bar is so just I cannot 
omit quoting it here. " Of the new judge we have only 
to say, if he perseveres in the course of manly and 
calm independence which he followed during his ser- 
vice as fir^t law officer of the Crown in Ireland, he 
will not fail to fill the highest place he is henceforward 
to occupy, to the satisfaction of the candid and right- 
thinking portion of his fellow-countrymen. Mr. Fitz- 
gerald was frequently placed in trying and difficult 
circumstances during his tenure of office, and, we are 
bound to say, he was not found wanting to the occa- 
sion.'^ Not less complimentary were the criticisms on 
his parliamentary career, which was described as '^ one 
seldom maintained by Irish representatives. '' His 
career on the Bench — in which all who have watched 
the trials of the Fenian conspirators have abundant 
proof — shows that the same course of manly inde- 
pendence which the Dublin Evening Mail so lauded in 
the barrister has been fully sustained by the judge. 

The late William Westropp Brereton, or, as he was 
more usually called, *' Billy Brereton,'^ is another 
whose memory I wish to recall. He had considerable 
legal talent, and a rough, bustling manner, that made 
him very useful in nisi prius cases. He was a fluent, 
if not a graceful speaker, and some topics of his addresses 
to juries had good point. Once, when defending a 
prisoner, against whom he contended the evidence of 
guilt was insufficient, he insisted on their recollecting 
*' the great principle of English law — that every man 
is presumed innocent until he is proved to be guilty — 
p'Udj on that Great Day, gentlemen, when we ourselves 



362 The Munster Circuit. 

are called before the Bar of Divine Justice, may you 
and 1 get the benefit of the doubt,'' ' 

Mr. Brereton was called to the Bar in 1836. He 
was added to the list of Queen^s Counsel in 1852, and, 
on the resignation of Mr. McDermott in 1858, ap- 
pointed Chairman of county Kerry. He held the 
Chairmanship of the county of Galway to the time 
of his death. 

John Hastings Ofcway, Q.C., now County Court 
Judge of Antrim, and Recorder of Belfast, was greatly 
beloved and esteemed on the Munster Circuit. He 
was the eldest son of one of Ireland^s most popular 
authors of works of Antiquarian and Topographical 
interest, the Rev. Caesar Otway, one of the most con- 
stant contributors to the Dublin University Magazine 
in its early days. John Hastings Otway, having care- 
fully prepared himself for the legal profession, was 
called to the Bar in 1832 — and, having married a lady 
— native of the county Cork — daughter of James Hill, 
Esq., of Craig, went the Munster Circuit. He had 
a very extensive range of practice, and many who 
gained distinction at the Bar learned their experience 
in his chambers. He was called to the Inner Bar as 
Queen's Counsel in 1852, and shortly after the retire- 
ment of another excellent member of the Munster 
Circuit the late John Gibson, became Assistant- 
Barrister of county Antrim, where he still dispenses 
justice. 

The late Isaac Butt, Q.C., M.P., bom in 1813, was 
a very remarkable man. His father, the Rev. Robert 

* Ex Relatione J. P. Hamilton, Q.C., Recorder of Cork. 




The Munster Circuit. 363 

Butt, Rectcr of Stranorlar, county Donegal, gave him 
every advantage in the way of education ; and mater- 
nally he claimed descent from the celebrated Berkeley, 
Bishop of Cloyne. He obtained a Scholarship in 
Trinity College, Dublin, in 1 832, and gained several 
honours, both in science and classics. Having taken 
his degrees in 1835, in the following year he was ap- 
pointed Professor of Political Economy, then recently 
established by Archbishop Whately, being only twenty- 
three years old. On this occasion he had to undergo 
a very severe examination, and encountered and 
triumphed over many brilliant competitors. Having 
studied for the Bar, he was called in 1838, and joined 
the Munster Circuit. He was elected alderman in the 
Corporation of Dublin, and contended against O'Connell, 
who brought the question of Repeal of the Union before 
the Corporation. Though defeated by a large majority 
who supported O^Connell, Butt's ability was proved 
by his ingenuity and fluency. He was advanced to 
the rank of Queen's Counsel in 1844, and, as he was 
highly esteemed by the Conservative party, entered 
Parliament for the borough of Harwich in 1852. He 
subsequently sat for Youghal, and, in after-life, having 
adopted the National cry of Home Rule, was elected 
member for the city of Limerick in 1871, and unani- 
mously acknowledged the leader of the Home Rule 
party in the House of Commons, to the time of his 
death in 1879. 

Few men ever had greater opportunities of advance- 
ment than Mr. Butt. His manners were most capti- 
vating, open, genial, and cheerful. He was distin- 
guished for great oratorical powers in addressing 



364 '^f^ Munster Circuit, 

juries, great intrepidity, and accurate knowledge of 
criminal law. During the various occasions when 
insurrectionary outbreaks — speedily suppressed — set 
the law in motion against state prisoners, Mr. Butt 
was always counsel for the defence. When Smith 
O'Brien, Thomas Francis Meagher, and others, were 
tried in 1848, he, with Mr. Whiteside, was engaged 
for the prisoners, and also when parties indicted for 
sharing in the Fenian Conspiracy were tried, he was 
their leading counsel. One of his most up-hill cases 
was the defence of Kirwan — ^indicted for the murder 
of his wife on Ireland^s Eye, a small island near the 
hill of Howth. Mr. Butt's energies were divided 
between the Bar and political life, and, though pos- 
sessed of talent for the Bench, or the State, never held 
any appointment in either. 

One of the most promising juniors, cotemporary 
with me on the Munster Circuit, was a native of Cork, 
bearing names well kpown and respected, both in 
county and city — Hedges Byre Chatterton. His father, 
Abraham Chatterton, was a highly respected citizen 
of Cork, and the future Vice-Chancellor of Ireland was 
born in the city in 1819. Having graduated with 
great distinction in the Dublin University, Mr. Chat- 
terton was called to the Bar in 1843, and joined the 
Munster Circuit. His accurate knowledge of Common 
law and Equity, and skill as a pleader, soon obtained 
him practice, but he preferred the quiet equity to 
the bustling Circuit Court, and, as consulting counsel, 
had large practice. He became one of her Majesty's 
Counsel in 1858. His eminence at the Bar caused 
him to be selected as Solicitor-General in 1866, and 



The Munster Circuit. 365 

the following year, owing to rapid promotion, found 
him Attorney-General. A vacancy then occurring in 
the representation of the University of Dublin, owing 
to the elevation of the Right Hon. James Whiteside 
as Lord Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench the 
Attorney-General was elected in his place. No Attor- 
ney-General for Ireland was more esteemed, both in 
the House of Commons and the Irish office than Mr. 
Chatterton, from his prompt, careful, and efficient mode 
of transacting business. On the passing of the Chan- 
cery Act of 1867, the Attorney-General was selected 
for the important office of Vice-Chancellor, which was 
hailed with great satisfaction, by both branches of the 
legal profession. 

Wtndham Goold, son of the Master in Chancery, 
was one of my dearest friends and companions. We 
shared the same social circle, and I seldom met 
any one who possessed such personal attractions and 
accomplishments. He had an ample fortune, and was 
member of Parliament for the county of Limerick, of 
great personal beauty, and, I beheve, he never caused 
a pang to a human being, until his early death caused 
his friends to mourn him. 

Some })on mots of Wyndham Goold show a playful 
disposition, joined to ready wit. Old Mr. Crowe, of 
Ennis, Colonel Wyndham's agent, was remarkable for 
the extraordinary length of his nose. It was flexible 
as an elephant's trunk, and wagged from side to side 
whenever he moved or spoke. Mr. Crowe was appel- 
lant in a Civil Bill Case before Judge Jackson. The 
merits of the case were with him, but the judge was 
coerced to refuse disturbing the decision of the Chair- 



366 The Munster Circuit. 

man of Quarter Sessions, and told Mr. Crowe "he 
could only obtain relief in Equity,'' adding, " I regret 
I cannot do what you are entitled to, as this Court is 
only a Court of Equity for the defendant. If you want 
to enforce your claim you must go to the Lord Chan- 
cellor/' 

" Tom," whispered Wyndham Goold to his friend^ 
Mr. Thomas Rice Henn, as old Crowe's nose was 
wabbling backwards and forwards, " It is plain Crowe 
will have to/fe Ms feiZZ." 

While walking, on a winter's day in Nassau Street, 
with a brother barrister, named Hunt, the ice was 
so great he would have fallen, more than once, 
had not Goold, on whose arm he leant, prevented 
him. 

" If you don't mind where you walk," said Goold to 
his friend, " you'll be called ' Hunt the Slipper.' " 

This most elegant and accomplished member of the 
Bar, and the Senate, was cut o£E in the bloom of 
youth. 

Others, who were of great promise, afterwards fully 
sustained, would merit more space than I have at 
command. 

The Hon. John Plunket, Q.C., G. B. Hickson, Q.C., 
Richard Lane, Q.C., Jeremiah J. Murphy, Q.C., after- 
wards Master in Chancery, Joshua Clarke, Q.C., County 
Court Judge, Christopher Copinger, Q.C., R. R. 
Warren, now Judge of the Court of Probate, Stephen 
Woulfe Flanagan, now one of the judges of the Landed 
Estates Court, and Privy Counsellor, Wm. B. Campion, 
Q.C. ; Thomas Rice Henn, Q.C., now County Court 
Judge, and Recorder of Galway, Thomas De Moleyns, 



The Munster Circuit, 367 

Q.C., Mr. O'Hea, Mr. J. S. Green, Q.C., Mr. Woodroofe, 
Q.C., are all names well known and appreciated on the 
Munster Circuit. As my personal acquaintance with 
the circuit ceased in 1850 I must leave the fame and 
career of the able members who so fully sustain the 
prestige of the past to other and worthier pens. 



368 The Munster Circuit. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

Jadge Ball. — ^Anecdotes relating to bim. — Chief Baron Brady 
and Judge Barton. — Judge Burton's fondness for Dickens's 
works. — Forbearance of the people of Fermoy. — O'Connell 
declined to meet the Judge at dinner. 

In the summer circuit of the year 1840, for the first 
time we had Judge Ball as the companion of Serjeant 
Greene. It was not long previously that Judge Ball 
had been raised to the Common Pleas Bench on the 
retirement of the Hon. Arthur Moore in 1839. Judge 
BalFs life at the Bar had been passed chiefly in the 
equity courts, for, though he went the Connaught 
Circuit for some years, his lucrative practice in Chan- 
eery, and especially in the EoUs, absorbed all his time. 
In 1838, when the eminent member of the Munster 
Circuit, Mr. Woulfe, became Chief Baron of the Ex- 
chequer, Mr. Ball succeeded him as Attorney-General 
for Ireland. He represented Clonmel in the House 
of Commons, where his social talents and pleasing 
manners made him extremely popular. 

It was related — ^but I will not vouch for the truth of 
the story — that Judge Ball was so much annoyed by 
the noise of a mill-wheel close to the court-house of 
Cork, that he peremptorily ordered the miller to cease 



The Munster Circuit, 369 

his work while he was engaged in disposing of the 
business of the assizes. This was accordingly done^ 
but, as the judge did not inform the miller when he 
might resume his grinding operations, the miller re- 
mained some months idle, and threatened the judge 
with an action for loss and damage sustained, but that 
a liberal compensation atoned for the judge^s forget- 
fulness. 

Another story is related of Judge Ball, that a half- 
crazy blacksmith once entered the assize court while 
he was on the bench. The smith was in a half- 
intoxicated state, but managed to slip past the police- 
man at the side-door, and stood near the dock facing 
the judge. He looked the very picture of an Irish 
rowdy — dressed in a loose frieze coat, corduroy 
breeches, grey stockings, and stout brogues, while 
wearing no necktie, portions of a very dirty shirt wide 
open, disclosed a bull neck, sadly in want of the 
application of soap and water. His fiery red face, 
bronzed by the heat of the forge and the copious liba- 
tions of whisky, was not concealed by the hat, which, 
despite the applications of the police, the san of Vulcan 
declined to remove, for the aforesaid hat and its 
brim had parted company, and the crown seemed dis- 
posed to follow suit. 

Finding Mick Cahill would not take off his hat, 
although repeatedly requested so to do, the policeman 
next him quietly took it oflF, and the bold smith, 
resenting this as an insult, then and there struck the 
constable, and floored him in the presence of judge and 
jury. The scene which ensued may be more easily 
imagined than described. All the police in the 

B b 



370 '^f^ Munster Circuit. 

court-house rushed to execute the order of Judge Ball, 
who desired the oflFender guilty of such contempt of 
court ^^ to be brought before him/' 

The police tried to seize Mick, but Mick struck right 
and left, and at every blow down went a green-coated, 
black-belted Peeler. The force had to be reinforced 
before Mick was captured. Then he was brought, 
plunging and kicking like a wild colt, towards the 
bench. The judge bade him stand on his feet to hear 
his sentence. 

This was easier said than done. It was done ; and 
^ once more Mick Gahill stood on the floor, like the 
monster touching terra-firma. He shouted his war- 
cry, tumbled police and attorneys; the bar-whigs 
were not respected, and Judge Ball, fearing that this 
wild man of the bellows and anvil would invade the 
sanctity of the bench, fled to the judge's chamber. The 
police asked his lordship what was to be done, and 
were told to get him away as fast as they could. But 
Mick refused to budge until he got his hat. He then 
surveyed it with a glance of affection, put it jauntily 
on his head, and offered to fight the constable who 
removed it for a pint of whisky. The offer being 
politely declined, Mick swaggered out of court, and 
considered he had acted more meritoriously than other- 
wise. 

In dispensing the hospitality which the judges ex- 
tend to the Bar on circuit, I retain a very grateful 
recollection of Judge Ball. His polished manners, 
lively conversation, cultivated mind— enlarged by litera* 
ture and travel — ^made him a most agreeable com- 
panion. He had lived in the very best society, both in 



The Munster Circuit, 371 

Dublin and London, and, kind in disposition, sought 
to diflFuse happiness around him. 

The judges who went the Munster Circuit during 
the summer of 1845 were Chief Baron Brady and Judgk 
Burton. Few common-law judges gave greater satis- 
faction than Brady as Chief Baron. His clear common 
sense, his intuitive sagacity, which enabled him to arrive 
at the just conclusion, his knowledge of the rules of 
evidence, and the sound views he presented of each 
case, whether civil or criminal, when addressiug juries, 
and his friendly manner to the Bar, made him ex- 
tremely popular. 

Of Judge Burton I have already spoken, when 
he was a member of the circuit ; I have now to 
allude to his merits as a judge. He had one im- 
portant and not universal qualification. He was the 
most patient judge I ever addressed. No amount of 
verbosity, no wearisome repetition, no tedious prolixity 
could elicit any reproof, or even a sympton of irritation 
from him. He listened unmoved, and while he sat, 
fixed as the pillar of the court, and as silent, he watched 
with the clearest intellect and the most legal mind the 
progress of the argument, or the hearing of the case. 
While Judge Perrin would ask some pertinent question 
which always served to recall the wandering counsel to 
the real point at issue. Judge Burton would hear the 
argument to the end, and then his decision came in the 
fullest and most judicial style. He did not content 
himself with merely giving his conclusions, he stated 
the reasons on which his decisions were based. He 
gave in minute detail the arguments or the objections 
on both sides, and the cases cited, distinguishing each, 

B b 2 



372 The Munster Circuit. 

and assigning it the proper place and value in tlie 
argument. 

In private society, as when on the bench, I found 
Judge Burton simple and natural. He spoke, when 
last I dined with him, about Dickens's novels. '^I 
delight in them,'' said the old judge — ^then nearly 
eighty years of age — '' I never can bear to lay one of 
them out of my hand until I have read it through." 
This very admission would of itself denote how deeply 
the judge shared the sympathies of the gifted author, 
how truly he felt, with Dickens, the infirmities of his 
fellow-men. Often, when sitting on the bench, where 
other judges affect, if they do not feel, a stem Rhada- 
manthus-like stoicism. Judge Burton has been seen to 
display the common weakness of humanity. 

This was the case when he tried the miscreants in- 
dicted for the fearful deed long remembered in Tip- 
perary as ^^ the burning of the Sheas " — one of the 
most atrocious crimes in the Irish calendar. Judge 
Burton wept as he declared " he never heard or read 
anything more truly pitiable than the fate of that un- 
fortunate family." Mr. Shiel, who was engaged for 
the prisoners, alluded to this in the course of his im- 
pressive speech. 

It fell to Judge Burton's lot to pronounce the sen- 
tence of the Court of Queen's Bench, after the jury 
found O'Connell and the other traversers guilty of the 
offences charged against them in 1844, and here, when 
pronouncing the sentence of the Court on his old 
friend and circuit companion, he was deeply moved. 

It is a source of pleasure for me to relate that my 
presence in his company was the means of sparing the 



The Munster Circuit. 373 

venerable judge the expression of popular odium for 
having thus discharged a most unpleasant duty. At 
the close of the Cork Assizes in August, 1845, I was 
staying at my father's house in Fermoy, and chanced 
to be in the hotel when Judge Burton's carriage halted 
to have a relay of post-horses. He was then on his 
return to Dublin. As he rested for some time in one of 
the sitting-rooms of the hotel, I bat with him, and 
when the horses were harnessed I gave him my arm to 
assist him down the steep stairs. When we reached 
the hotel door, opening upon the square of Fermoy, I 
noticed a very considerable crowd of men, chiefly of 
the working class, assembled. They were much more 
than the usual number of idlers loitering around the 
hotel doorway. I saw my old friend safely ensconced in 
his carriage with his registrar ; the postillion cracked 
his whip, round went the wheels, and away they drove. 
It was not until some time afterwards I was made 
aware that this crowd had collected for the express 
purpose of hooting Judge Burton for having sentenced 
O'Connell, but that when my fellow-townsmen saw 
him leaning upon my arm, they, out of compliment to 
me, refrained from any expression of disrespect. It 
appears that O'Connell did not exhibit the same 
equanimity towards the old judge as the people of 
Fermoy. He no doubt felt more acutely the sentence, 
though why he should have entertained any ill-feeling 
towards the judge I cannot conceive. 

During the same assizes, when in Limerick, in 1 845, 
the going judges. Chief Baron Brady and Judge 
Burton, accepted an invitation from the then Mayor of 
Limerick, W. J. Geary, M.D., to meet the Corporation 



374 ^-^^^ Munster Circuit, 

at dinner. It chanced that O'Connell, who arrived in 
Limerick with his jidus Achates, honest Tom Stale, on 
his way to Derrynane, was waited upon at his hotel 
by the mayor, who invited the great tribune also. 
O'Connell readily accepted the invitation, but on sub- 
sequently hearing the judges were to be present — one 
of them having so recently sentenced him — he inti- 
mated to the mayor it was impossible he could go to 
the dinner, and left the city. This caused quite a 
sensation. A meeting of the Corporation took place, 
and the following resolution was moved by James 
Kelly, M.P. for the city, seconded by Martin Honan, 
Esq. : — 

" This Council having heard with surprise that the 
Liberator is under the impression that the invitation 
he received from the mayor on last Wednesday had 
emanated from this body, resolved that though on this, 
as on all other occasions, we would feel highly proud 
of the presence of the Liberator, yet we deem it right 
to communicate to him that if the mayor used the 
name of the Corporation, he did so without authority ; 
and that the town clerk be instructed to apprise the 
Liberator that we feel too high a respect for him to 
allow him, for a moment, to remain under such an 
impression.^' 

O'Connell, who was then staying at Derrynane, lost 
no time in writing to express his regret at being under 
the erroneous impression that the invitation was from 
the Corporation, and not from the mayor. He thanked 
the Corporation for their cordial kindness, and, in re- 
ference to a projected public dinner to himself, said, 
"Our sole object should be to advance the cause of 



The Munster Circuit. 375 

Repeal, quite independently of any compliment to any 
individual/' 

We are told the matter ended here, but it left some 
bitterness, which time, however, removed.* 

* Lenehan's *' History of Limerick," p. 605. 



378 The Munster Circuit, 

well as the law student, could not help being impressed 
with the peculiarly clear and terse manner in which the 
junior shaped his statement, giving the necessary in- 
formation in the fewest words requisite for clearness, 
displaying the most thorough knowledge of what he 
wanted, what he knew the Court could grant, and what 
his client had a right to obtain. The judge leaned 
over the bench and inquired the name of the counsel, 
and I was perfectly convinced that the name of Rickard 
Deasy would soon be often shouted in the Library and 
echoed in the Hall. Few at the Bar identified them- 
selves more closely with their clients. He fought their 
cases with an eagerness sometimes amusing to listen 
to, and it was hopeless for any Judge to attempt to 
stop Mr. Deasy so long as he had anything to say 
which he thought ought not to remain unsaid. I was 
in the Court of Chancery when the cause of Tangney 
V. Anderson was at hearing before the Lord Chan- 
cellor, Sir B. B. Sugden. I was personally interested 
that the plaintiff, for whom Mr. Deasy was retained as 
counsel, should not succeed. The mind of the Chan- 
cellor, I believed, was with us ; and when Deasy 
rose to speak, his lordship intimated a very strong dis- 
inclination to hear him, but in a few firm but respectful 
words, Mr. Deasy, then at the Outer Bar, asserted his 
right to be heard, and the Chancellor had to sit quiet, 
while Mr. Deasy argued the case in a manner that 
made me tremble for the safety of my paternal acres. 
However, the decree soon settled the question most 
satisfactorily. 

Mr. Deasy went the Munster Circuit for some years 
before he got into much practice ; but when promotion 



The Munster Circuit 379 

or death removed Pigot, Jackson, Collins, Cooper, 
O'Brien, and others from the path, Deasj, with J. D. 
FitzGerald, Joshua Clarke, Charles R. Barry, Edward 
Sullivan, Exham, and those who now worthily appear 
the leaders of the Munster Bar, came to the front. He 
got the rank of Queen's Counsel in 1 849, and when the 
death of Judge Moore, in 1858, placed Serjeant O'Brien 
on the Bench, Mr. Deasy succeeded him as Serjeant- 
at-Law. When his friend and relative, Edmund Burke 
B,oche, who had long represented the county of Cork 
in the House of Commons, was raised to the Irish 
peerage as Lord Perraoy, and therefore was disqualified 
from sitting for an Irish constituency in Parliament, 
Mr. Deasy was induced to become a candidate for the 
county of Cork. He was returned as colleague of the 
late Vincent Scully, Q.C. 

As a member of Parliament he was greatly respected. 
He had that business habit and conciseness which is so 
satisfactory to the House, and considered a rare quality 
for an Irishman in general, and an Irish barrister in 
particular. Then he was a favourite, for the modera- 
tion of his views, his ability in meeting attack, and his 
fairness when encountering a political adversary. He 
did not long remain in the rank of Serjeant. In 1859 
he was appointed to the office of Solicitor-General, 
having as his colleague Mr. J. D. FitzGerald, the 
Attorney-General j and when the elevation of the latter 
to the Bench, in the following year, caused Mr. Deasy's 
promotion to the rank of first law officer for the Crown, 
it also necessitated his re-election to the House of 
Commons. 

To his surprise, and pecuniary loss, he found himself 



380 The Munster Circuit. 

exposed to the worry and expense of a contest. Lord 
Campden was started for the representation of the 
county of Cork, but Mr. Deasy^s ftiends were not dis- 
mayed, and succeeded in re-electing him by an over- 
whelming majority. He did not long remain subject 
to the fluctuation of official position. The death of 
Baron Greene, in 1861, caused his promotion, and, to 
the gratification of his friends, Mr. Deasy became one 
of the Barons of the Court of Exchequer, and, in 1877, 
was appointed Lord Justice of Appeal. 

In October, 1869, the unexpected death of John 
Edward Walsh, a very eminent judge, whose literary 
labours illustrated Irish life in the pages of the 
'^ Dublin University Magazine,'^ * made room on the 
Bench of the Rolls Court for one of the leaders of the 
Munster Circuit — the Right Hon. Edward Sullivan. 
Mr. Walsh died in Paris, at the comparatively early 
age of fifty-two. He sat on the Bench, as Master of 
the Rolls, only three years, but during that time gave 
unmixed satisfaction, from his great ability as a lawyer, 
his patience and industry as a judge, and his courtesy 
as a gentleman. It was with universal acclaim the 
announcement was received that the Attorney-General, 
Mr. Sullivan, was appointed to succeed the lamented 
John Edward Walsh. 

Mr. Sullivan is closely connected with the Munster 
Circuit. He is the fourth Master of the Rolls the 
Circuit has given to the Bench within the present 
century.* He was born at Mallow, in the county of 

^ " Ireland Sixty Years Ago." 

* 1, Curran, leader of the Munster Circuit, Master of the 
ItollB from 1806 to 1814; 2, Sir William McMahon, Munster 



Tlu Munster Circuit. 381 

Cork, m 1826, educated, as Curran was, at Midleton 
School in that county, and was so well versed in his 
examination course that he obtained first place at his 
entrance to Trinity College, Dublin, in 1839. His 
university career was eminently a distinguished one. 
He obtained a scholarship, the gold medal of the 
College Historical Society, where he was famed for 
oratory, and elected Auditor in 1845. Happily select- 
ing the Bar for his future profession, he was called in 
Michaelmas Term, 1848, and, as was natural from his 
connexions, selected the Munster Circuit. Mr. Sullivan 
had a large circle of friends among that most valuable 
class to the young lawyer, the attorneys, and those of 
his native town soon brought forth the forensic talents 
of the young Mallow barrister. 

On Circuit, as in the Four Courts, he was distin- 
guished by his depth of learning, his readiness, and 
professional skill. Though small of stature, he had the 
voice of Stentor, and a copiousness of language which 
few equalled. His practice grew so rapidly that, after 
being ten years at the Bar, he received the silk gown 
of Queen^s Counsel, and when, two years later, the 
promotion of the ill-fated Serjeant Berwick ' to the 
Bench, as Judge of the Court of Bankruptcy, caused a 
vacancy among the Serjeants, Edward Sullivan received 
the coif. In 1861 he became law adviser at the Castle. 
In 1865 he was appointed Solicitor-General for Ireland, 

Circuit, Master of the Rolls, 1814 to 1837; 3, Sir Michael 
O'Loghlen, Bart., leader of the Monster Circuit, Master of the 
Rolls from 1837 to 1842 ; 4, Edward Sullivan, leader of the 
Munster Circuit, Master of the Rolls, 1869. 
> Killed in the railway collision at Abergele. 



382 The Munster Circuit. 

and then had the honour of representing his native 
town of Mallow in the House of Commons, being pre- 
ferred to the late Robert Longfield, Q.C. Here his 
power as an orator, backed by his knowledge as a 
lawyer, and his intimate acquaintance with Irish social 
questions, made him formidable in debate. He gained 
first the ear, then the heart, of the House, and, it is 
said, no one of the English members felt his worth more 
keenly, and appreciated his services more correctly, 
than the eminent statesman, William Ewart Gladstone. 
When that distinguished statesman assumed the reins 
of Government, in 1868, in the formation of the new 
Government the post of Attorney- General for Ireland 
fell to Mr. Sullivan. Mr. Gladstone availed himself of 
his aid to frame the Irish Church Bill, and while that 
measure was passing through the Commons found no 
abler ally to argue the clauses, to meet the objections, 
and press the views of the Government, while the bill 
was in committee. In fact, Mr. Gladstone and Mr. 
Sullivan were the members on whom the weight of 
debate chiefly fell. Of course his share in that measure 
to some degree alienated from him the affection of his 
co-religionists, but his frank, manly bearing, his cordial 
manners, and his straightforward reasons disarmed 
resentment. At the Bar, and on Circuit, he leaves 
only the remembrance of honourable conflict. In his 
present position, as the Master of the Rolls, the public 
derive great benefit from his acquaintance with the 
dictum, the law, and practice of the Court. Among 
his triumphs at the Bar, we must not forget his cross- 
examination of the defendant, then the Hon. Major 
Yelverton, when Mr. Sullivan was associated with the 



The Munster Circuit. 383 

late Chief Justice of tlie Queen^s Bench in the cause 
celebre, Thelwell v. Yelverton. Daring the Summer 
Circuit of 1874, the presiding judges were Baron 
Deasy and Judge Lawson. It was the latter judge^s 
first appearance on the Munster Circuit in a judicial 
capacity, so a brief notice of him may be introduced 
here. He is a native of Munster, born in Waterford, 
and was a distinguished student in the Dublin Univer- 
sity, where he obtained a scholarship in 1836, and a 
gold medal in 1837. He studied for the Bar, not 
merely skimming the surface of legal learning, but 
diving to the lowest depths, and drawing thence pearls 
of rare price. Well prepared for the practice of his 
arduous profession, he was called to the Irish Bar in 
1840, and selected the Leinster Circuit. In 1841 he 
was elected successor to an eminent member of the 
Munster Circuit, Mr. Butt, as Whately Professor of 
Political Economy, by the Dublin University ; and I 
remember, with his round, boyish, whiskerless face, 
looked a very juvenile Professor indeed. During the 
meeting of the British Association at Cork, in 1843, he 
and I became acquainted, and during our tour along 
the beautiful river Blackwater, in Munster — visited 
by the members of the British Association in conse- 
quence of my paper, read before the statistical section, 
which shortly afterwards expanded into my "His- 
torical and Picturesque Guide to the Blackwater, in 
Munster" — Mr. Lawson shared with me the hospi- 
talities of Sir Richard Musgrave, ^art., who feasted us 
the first day ; the Earl of Mount Cashel, who received 
us at Moore Park the second day ; and my father, who 
entertained the party at his official residence. New 



384 The Munster Circuit. 

Barrack House, Fermoy, the third day. My sisters 
had invited many of the o£Blcers of the Fermoy garrison 
and their wives to meet the savants, and to one, who 
asked my youngest sister what the very young gentle- 
man, Mr. Lawson, was, my sister naively said, " Oh, 
he's the Professor of Economy.'^ Professor Lawson 
rapidly got large practice at the Bar, being equally 
well versed in common law and equity. His position 
in the Four Courts and on Circuit would have entitled 
him to the rank of silk gown, but he abstained from the 
position until he felt his place on his Circuit rendered 
his doing so necessary. He therefore did not become 
a Queen's Counsel until the year 1857. He addressed 
the electors of the University of Dublin as a candidate 
for the representation in 1858. But as he professed 
Whig principles, the electors were not induced to 
relinquish either of their Conservative representatives 
in his favour, and accordingly re-elected Messrs. 
Whiteside and Lefroy. On the appointment of 
Serjeant O'Hagan to the oflSce of Solicitor-General, 
in 1860, the vacant coif was conferred on Mr. Lawson, 
and when Mr. O'Hagan became Attorney-General, in 
the following year, Serjeant Lawson became his 
colleague as a law officer of the Crown. He followed 
closely on the footsteps of Mr. O^Hagan, and on the 
elevation of that gentleman to the Bench of the 
Common Pleas, in 1865, Mr. Lawson succeeded him as 
Attorney-General for Ireland. It is always important 
for the Government jbo have their chief law officer in 
the House of Commons, and, in the general election of 
1865, the Attorney-General contested the borough of 
Portarlington with Captain Damer^ and with success. 



The Munster Circuit, 385 

His parliamentary career was much interrupted by his 
time being much engrossed by the Fenian revolt and. 
the State prosecutions, which prevented his absence 
from the Irish Courts. He ceased to hold office when 
the Whigs were defeated, and also lost his seat for 
Portarlington ; but on the return of the Whigs to 
office, and when the elevation of Judge O^Hagan to the 
custody of the Irish Great Seal left a judgeship on the 
Bench of the Common Pleas vacant, Mr. Lawson, as 
usual, followed O^Hagan, and became a judge of the 
Common Pleas. 

On the Bench, as at the Bar, his legal knowledge, 
his clear, logical mind, his familiarity with business, 
and his friendly, social manners, free from any tinge 
of hauteur or superiority, made him extremely popular ; 
and though extreme politicians doubt in the reality of 
his Whig pretensions, as he makes all political feelings 
give place to the strict discharge of his judicial duties, 
we have no right to question a matter of this sort. 



n 



386 The Munster Circuit. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

Attempts to assassinate a Land Agent. — Galtee Castle. — 
Increase of Rents. — The Agent fired at. — An Iron Barrack. — 
The Ambuscade. — The Coachman shot — Activity of the 
Policemen. — Arrest of Thomas Crowe. — His Trial.— Convic- 
tion and Sentence. — Compen Ration awarded. — The Agent 
removed. — Spring Circuit, 1877. — ^Mr. James Robinson, Q.C. 
—The Kilfinan Case.— The Yongal Ferry Case. 

Crowning the summit of a gentle hill in Munster, en- 
compassed by the peaks, passes, and precipices of the 
Galtee mountains, stand the picturesque towers of Gal- 
tee Castle. Here, not long since, ruled the puissant 
Earls of Kingston. Here, at a remoter time, FitzGib- 
bon, commonly called the White Knight, kept his state. 
He was chief of a portion of the Desmond territory ; and 
here the said White Knight, as is told in Chapter II., cap- 
tured the Earl of Desmond, who sought shelter in a cave 
called Slievegort, and the White Knight sent him a 
prisoner to Cork, for which service the Cork historian ' 
states he was rewarded with the sum of lOOOZ. But 
the White Knight and his descendants, the Earls of 
Kingston, no longer rule over this wild and picturesque 
territory. The profuse hospitality of the Kingston 
family, the enormous expense of contested elections ia 

» Smith's " History of Cork," Vol. i. p. 79. 



The Munster Circuit. 387 

which they took part, the desire to outrival the large- 
acred peers of England, so mortgaged the estates of 
the Earls of Kingston, that when acting as counsel in 
a creditor's suit to foreclose a mortgage, I ascertained 
the charges on the vast property of the family was 
between three and four hundred thousand pounds. To 
this incumbrance constant litigation added very consider- 
ably. In 1849, the 5th Earl, James, told me the litigation 
concerning his grandfather's will (he died 17th April, 
1799) was not then over, and therefore it can hardly cause 
surprise to learn that when the Landed Estates Court 
proved an expeditious mode for diminishing the area 
of incumbered Irish estates, the property of the Earls 
of Kingston, in the counties of Cork, Limerick, and 
Tipperary, estimated, at one time, at something like 
400,000 acres, was speedily reduced to more concise 
dimensions. 

It happened that a very large slice of this heavily 
mortgaged property, lying along the western sides of 
the Galtees from Kilbenny, in the county of Limerick, 
to Araglin, in the county of Cork, was purchased by 
an English capitalist, who realized a considerable for- 
tune as a manufacturer at Staleybridge, which town he 
represented in the House of Commons. Although the 
picturesque seat of Galtee Castle might have formed 
an attraction for a lover of scenery, it seems not to 
have tempted the purchaser to make it his residence. 
Possibly he was unaware that this district is immor- 
talized by Edmund Spenser the poet, in the legend of 
Constancie.^ That here the deities assembled, and 

2 " Faerie Queene," Canto VI. 
c c 2 



388 The Munster Circuit. 

that the Brackbawn, the rock-channelled stream which 
sweeps, with the dash and foam of a torrent, through 
the glen of the Castle, was the farourite bath of 
Diana. The source of this stream is thus, as faithfully 
as poetically described by Spenser : — 

" For first she springs out of two marble rocks, 
On which a grove of oak high-monnted grow», 
That as a garland seems to deck the locks 
Of some f ayre bride brought forth with pompous showes 
Out of her bower, that many flowers strewn, 
So through the flowery dales she tumbling downe, 
Through many woods and shady coverts flowes, 
That on each side her silver channel crown. 
Till to the plain she comes, whose vallies she doth drown. 

In her sweet stream Diana used oft. 
After her sweatie chase and toilsome play 
To bathe herself ; and often on the soft 
And downy grass her dainty limbs to lay 
In covert shades, where none behold her may. 
For much she hated sight of living eye." 

Perhaps the proximity of the Castle to the county of 
Tipperary, so distinguished some years ago by nume- 
rous agrarian crimes, caused the new proprietor of 
Galtee Castle to remain an absentee in England. 
Whatever the cause, he did not live in the Castle, but 
allowed his agent to do so. This gentleman was the 
representative of the landlord — his agent in collecting 
his rents, and as he soon became highly unpopular, the 
target for the assassin^s weapons. 

It is sad to write this. It is sad to think that^ at 
this day, vnth all our social progress, with all our 
eflforts in civilization, the old war between landlord and 



The Munster Circuit, 389 

"tenant is as bitter, if not as extensive as it was when 
Cromwell's soldiers gave to the transplanted Celts the 
option of " Hell or Connaught *' in exchange for the 
green fields — the pleasant homes, and loved localities 
where they were born, and hoped to die. Bat it is 
not my province to write upon the land tenure of 
Ireland, save so far as it engenders crimes, which, alas, 
sitain the course of the Munster Circuit. 

It appears that the purchaser of this part of the 
Earl of Kingston estates, which we have just described, 
was not satisfied with the rental he had acquired. 
Like Oliver Twist, he ^' wanted more," and finding the 
tenants unprotected by lease, had the lands revalued, 
and resolved to raise the rents. I need hardly say the 
land upon the slopes of the Gtiltee mountains is far 
from productive ; lying in a wild and rocky region 
remote from market towns, or means of extensive 
traffic, it did not afford much subsistence to the tenants 
after paying rent, rates, and taxes. The notion of 
being called upon to pay a higher rent than that which 
was often scraped together with difficulty, caused a 
• wail of sorrow throughout the district. Those whose 
ears are ever open to the poor man's sorrows, whose 
hearts are ever ready to sympathize in his affliction, 
heard the cry, and laboured to avert the coming blow. 
The priest of the people interfered, and tried to 
moderate demands they felt to be unreasonable. The 
influence of the Catholic clergy had not the desired 
effect, and accordingly the tenants had only the sad 
alternative of yielding to the pressure, or leaving the 
land. 

In a country like Ireland, devoid of manufactures. 



■p ^ ~^ . — 



390 TAe Munster Circuit. 

having little or no remunerative mines at work, nothing 
in short for the people to look to for employment, save 
agriculture, there is practically no option for the bulk 
of the people. If the man does not work on the land, 
he starves, or adds to the rates by resorting to the 
poor-house. Though the farmers on the Galtee pro- 
perty regarded the increased rents as a step to beg- 
gary, many of them agreed to terms they were power- 
less to resist, and the increased rent was promised, 
and, for the most part, paid. One of the tenants, a 
man named Patrick Ryan, who conld not, or would not 
pay, was evicted. He and his family were cast npon 
the roadside, and, alas, the mode of revenge, so common 
in the county of Tipperary, was taken: 

On a fine spring evening the land agent was watch- 
ing the setting sun, as it oast a parting beam over the 
lovely landscape around Galtee Castle. Birds were 
piping their sweet notes in the shrubbery, and the 
buds of the evergreens were beginning to clothe the 
boughs with half-opened leaves. Had he been familiar 
with the Faerie Queene, he would probably have looked 
into the Brackbawn, as it pursued its limpid course 
into the valley below, for a glimpse of Diana, when the 
light of the moon, sacred to that goddess, cast a soft 
effulgence on the scene. Soon he had other thoughts 
to occupy him — the evicted tenant lay in ambush with 
the weapon of death in his hand. The intended vic- 
tim, unconscious of danger, approached the assassin's 
hiding-place. Suddenly the holy hush of the evening 
hour was broken by the discharge of a gun. The 
agent was fired at from the shrubbery. The weapon 
was loaded with slugs, which tore his clothes, and a 



The Munster Circuit. 391 

few pellets struck him, but either the charge of powder 
was too weak^ or the distance he stood from the 
assassin too far, for he providentially escaped any 
serious injury. 

Aware of the danger in which he stood, the agent 
carried a revolver, aud now in his turn he fired in 
the direction whence his assailant had aimed at himself. 
He missed the man, and saw Byan crossing a field, 
which caused the natural belief he was the person who 
committed the outrage. For several months the police 
of the district kept at a hot pursuit after Byan. It is 
said his escapes were many, that when the police were 
entering by the door, he was leaping out the window, 
until at length he contrived to get away from Ireland 
in a fishing-smack from Kinsale. 

It was stated that this man's wife and children, 
deprived of his support, when driven from their little 
farm, threw up a rude shanty against a ditch on the 
lands. This was not allowed to remain. The agent 
summoned the wretched occupants before the magis- 
trates at petty sessions at Gralbally, and the wretched 
woman and her children were obliged to leave the 
district. Fearing the consequences of his position the 
agent naturally desired such protection as would pre- 
serve him from personal danger. He bought an iron 
house for occupation by policemen, which he placed 
close to his residence at Galtee Castle, and herein was 
stationed four constables, under charge of Constable 
Nugent. The expense of supporting these constables 
falling upon the people of the district, formed a heavy 
tax upon the already impoveria^ed tenants. Feeliag 
how precarious was his tenure of existence, the ob- 



392 The Munster Circuit. 

noxious agent never ventured fortli unarmed or un- 
attended. He usually was escorted by two policemen^ 
armed with their rifles, while he, too, carried fire-arms. 

On Thursday, the 30th of March, 1876, shortly after 
the gala day, the agent went into Mitchelstown, a con- 
siderable country town in tbe county of Cork, about 
five miles distant from his dwelling, where he had an 
office for transacting the business of the estate. Here 
he was occupied in receiving the rents, and many of 
the tenants were punctual, and paid their rents, and^ 
obtaining receipts, betook themselves home. 

After closing the office, about five o^clock, the agent 
got on his outside jaunting-car to drive back to Qaltee 
Castle. On one side sat the agent and Constable 
Nugent; on the other another constable, and the 
steward and bailiff. The driver of the car was named 
John Hyland. The whole party were well armed. 
The road from Mitchelstown towards Galtee Castle is a 
level one for the most part, with open fields, and 
bordered by fences of moderate size. Farm-houses lie 
scattered over the country and by the roadside. At 
Kilbenny, about three miles from Mitchelstown, is a 
police station and small village. Nearer to Mitchels- 
town, at a place called Garryleigh, is a thick hedge 
close to the road, and the farmhouse and haggard 
of a farmer named O'Brien. Cocks of hay and out- 
buildings are near at hand ; and on the opposite side 
of the road lies a ditch, with a few scattered bushes. 
Behind the hedge two men lay in ^wait for the agent, 
one having a double-barrelled fowling-piece, the other 
a single-barrelled gun. At the back of the ditch, on 
the opposite side of the road, crouched a third man. 



The Munster Circuit, 393 

armed with a blunderbuss and a heavy cavalry pistol. 
As the outside car drove rapidly on its way, no sooner 
had it reached the fatal spot where the assassins 
lucked than a weapon was discharged. A shower of 
shot and slugs rattled upon the vehicle. Had the man 
with the blunderbuss aimed low, both the agent and 
Constable Nugent must have received the contents, 
for they heard the stream of missiles pass over their 
heads, and, unhappily, many of them lodged in the 
body of the hapless coachman, who fell from his seat 
shot through the heart. The agent did not pass 
unhurt. Five of the slugs hit him about the legs, 
arms, and face. The steward^s ankle was grazed. 
Constable Nugent had his tunic torn by a brace of slugs, 
and some struck his shoulder and knee ; but, luckily, 
these did not impede his activity. When the agent 
said, " Serjeant, there^s the man who j&red the shot,'* 
Nugent looked steadily in the direction, and closed 
with the man who fired. Another of the assassins was 
covered by the sub-constable, who fired at him, and 
the man stumbled and dropped his gun ; but instantly 
stooped down, picked it up, and escaped. At the 
same time, the constable saw a man come from 
O'Brien's haggard with his face blackened. This 
man fired twice at the sub-constable, but missed him. i 

He escaped through a gap in the corner of the haggard. 
He, the sub-constable, then helped Constable Nugent 
to handcufi" the prisoner. The shot fired by the pri- \ 

Boner had killed the driver of the car. When this 
man was shot, he fell back on the car, and subse- 
quently dropped upon the road. The agent and his 
steward drove on homeward. Passing by Kilbenny police 



394 ^^^ Munster Circuit. 

barrack, they gave' tlie alarm to the force stationed 
there, who were soon on the fatal spot. The prisoner 
was brought to the barrack at Kilbenny. He proved 
to be a man named Thomas Crowe, about sixty years 
of age, and unmarried. He was a native of Tipperary» 
The body of John Hyland was brought into Mitchels- 
town, and underwent a fost mortem examination. 

At the ensuing Cork Summer Assizes of 1876, 
Thomas Crowe was tried before Judge Lawson for the 
murder of John Hyland The case for the Crown was 
stated by Serjeant Sir Colman O^Loghlen, and the facts 
proved by Mr. Bridges, Constable Nugent, and Sab* 
constable Jones, as 1 have already detailed them. 
Doctors O'Neill and M^Craith, who had examined 
the body of Hyland, were called by the Crown. Dr. 
M^Craith, who was examined by Mr. Green, Q.O., 
deposed that on the night of the murder he examined 
Hyland's body. He found a ballet wound over the 
heart, and a hole through his clothes on the left side. 
He passed his finger through this wound, and found a 
ballet inside. The pellet had passed through the 
heart, and lodged in the backbone. The resident 
magistrate, Mr. Eaton, proved he took the information 
of the agent, which he read over to the prisoner. He 
cautioned the prisoner before he brought him to the 
presence of the agent; and when he read the in- 
formation to him, asked him if he wished to cross- 
examine the agent, and that anything he stated would 
be taken down. The prisoner said, " I don't want to 
ask the agent any question ; I hear what he says, and 
I can't contradict him." The prisoner was zealously 
Wended by two barristers— Messrs. Blackball and 



The Munster Circuit, 395 

Lawrence, instructed by Mr. J. T. OTonnelL They 
sought to prove that the prisoner was not the guilty 
man; that it was incredible to suppose a man who 
never saw the land agent before, who entertained no 
ill-feeling against him, a man advanced in life, without 
any provocation, went and committed that atrocious 
murder. Both counsel made able addresses to the 
jury, commenting upon the very unreliable nature of 
the evidence produced against the prisoner, and the 
entire want of motive for the crime. The absence of 
the bailiff was strongly observed upon ; also that one 
of the police swore he saw a man with his face 
blackened. Counsel urged it was most likely any one 
associated in this fearful outrage would be disguised; 
whereas the prisoner wore nothing of the kind. Mr. 
Murphy, Q.C., replied on the part of the Grown. He 
went very carefully through the evidence, showing 
how clearly the guilt of the prisoner was established. 
In reference to the observations made by the counsel 
for "the prisoner upon the absence of (yLoghlen, the 
bailiff, Mr. Murphy said, ^^Very naturally, this man 
O'Loghlen was anxious to provide for his own safety. 
It did not appear he saw anything that was going on in 
the jBeld, and it did appear he got quickly out of the 
way.'' Judge Lawson having summed up with his 
usual clearness and ability, the jury retired at seven 
o'clock, and about eight o'clock brought in their verdict 
of " Guilty." 

Mr. Bull, clerk of the peace, demanded, in the usual 
form, " if the prisoner had anything to say why sen- 
tence of death and execution should not be passed upon 
him." The prisoner had nothing to urge, whereupon 



396 The Munster Circuit. 

« 

Judge Lawson said, '' You, Thomas Crowe, have been 
foand gailty, on evidence of a very clear and convincing 
character, of having committed the crime of which, 
you were convicted. In fact, you were taken red- 
handed in the very act. And although I believe that 
the victim that fell by the fire of your blunderbuss 
was not the person whom you meant to put to death, 
you are found guilty in having taken the life of an 
innocent man, your own life must necessarily be for- 
feited for the crime. You must have been brought 
there by others or gone there to commit that deed. I 
can hold out no hope of mercy to you. Unfortunately 
the crime of murder or assassination has been much 
too common in this country, and, therefore, my duty is 
now to pass sentence of death upon you. His lordship 
having assumed the black cap, sentenced Crowe to be 
hanged on the 25th August, and buried within the 
precincts of the gaol. This sentence was carried into 
eflFect. 

In order to induce the peasantry to discouraged the 
commission of such crimes, the Legislature passed an 
Act, empowering parties injured, or the representa- 
tives of those who are killed, to apply to the Grand 
Jury of the county when crimes are committed, who 
are at liberty to award due compensation for such 
offences, which is levied off the district. Accordingly 
notice having been duly served for such application in 
this instance, when the verdict was obtained, the 
claims were heard by the Grand Jury for the county of 
Cork. 

Mr. Heron, Q.C., and Mr. Peter O'Brian appeared 
for the injured parties. These were the Agent, Mary 



The Munster Circuit, 397 

Hyland, widow of the murdered man, Constable 
Nugent^ and O^Loghlen, the bailiff. Messrs. Murphy, 
Q.C., O^Brien, Q.O., O'Eiordan, and Fitzgerald were 
counsel for the tenantry of the district, and Mr. John 
Eoche counsel for the ratepayers of Mitchelstown. 
The case was very fully discussed and the demands re- 
duced to about half what was originally sought. 

In the course of his address to the Grand Jury Mr. 
Heron read several threatening letters showing the 
animus against the agent. I can only find room for 
one, which may be taken as a sample of the rest. It 
was posted in Tipperary on the 29th April, 1876, 
one month after the last attempt at his assassination : — 

" Leave, Leave, LEAVE, or if you don^t, we^ll face 
you and your body-guard in the face of God and man, 
if it was in the chambers of Galtee Castle in the noon- 
day, and will not leave until your body will be cold 
and your soul in hell. Hyland got the same warning, 
and ridiculed it. Let you ridicule this if you like, it is 
the last, and if rejected will prove fatal, 

" YouE Attempted Absassin.^^ 

In the course of his examination the agent swore 
there were 527 tenants on the estate. The gross rental 
was 5550Z. About a dozen or a dozen and a half held 
by lease. The rent was raised on 450, about 130 were 
served with notice to quit. These were' on the pro- 
perty in Limerick, Tipperary, and Billarue. 

The Grand Jury awarded as compensation to the 
agent lOOOZ. ; to the widow of John Hyland, 700Z. ; 
Constable Nugent, lOOZ.; Patrick O^Loghlen, lOZ. 



■OT^HB^9Bi^«ni^BP?ii^«Blwq^^?^^nqMHBP!««^ni«l«PHPPM^?«:MM^HK«^i^lP.I .IJ^J^ _ 



398 The Munster Circuit. 

total, 18101!., the amount to be paid oflF the parish of 
Brigown in three instalments. 

The Judges of Assize on the Spring Circuit of 1877 
were the late Right Hon. Judge Keogh and James 
Robinson, Q.C., selected for Circuit owing to the ill- 
ness of Chief Baron Palles. Of Mr. Robinson^s quali- 
fications as an able lawyer I am competent to speak. 
In his student days we were both members of the Law 
Student^s Debating Society, and I yet preserve several 
notes of his arguments which show how laboriously and 
carefully he prepared himself for discussing the legal 
questions at our evening meetings. He graduated as 
Master of Arts in the University of Dublin, and was 
called to the Bar in Michaelmas Term, 1836. He 
selected the Connaught Circuit and soon his legal 
arguments and steady application to his profession 
met their reward. He had very considerable practice, 
and in 1852 was called to the Inner Bar as Queen's 
Counsel. He became Chairman of Quarter Sessions for 
the county of Cavan, and in the year 1870 was elected 
a Bencher of the King^s Inns. 

The Spring Circuit had somewhat more than the 
average amount of criminal business, and among the 
cases tried were several very revolting. At Limerick 
an old couple, man and wife, were indicted for the 
murder of their daughter-in-law at Kilfinan. It ap- 
peared on the trial that an ill-feeling subsisted on the 
part of the old man towards his daughter-in law. He 
was heard to say "she was of a bad breed, and 
thought she was not sufficiently kind to him in regard 
to his food/' One day, when her husband went to the 
bog for turf, leaving his wife in her usual good health. 



The Munster Circuit, 399 

an alarm was given to the police that the woman was 
dead. Oq the police going to the cabin they found it 
true. She lay on the floor of the cabin with several 
severe wounds on her head^ which the old man said 
" were owing to the old chimney having blown down 
and fallen on her/^ There was no wind to cause the 
fall, and the chimney could not have crushed the wo- 
man where she lay, so the old couple were suspected, 
Blood was found on the old man^s clothes, and some 
grey hairs clutched in the deceased woman^s hand 
corresponded with those of her father-in-law. The 
man and his wife were tried at Limerick before Mr. 
Robinson. He directed the woman to be acquitted, 
and the jury found the old man guilty of manslaughter. 
He received a heavy sentence. At Cork a man named 
Creraen, lessee of the tolls of Youghal ferry, and a 
boatman named Oolinor were tried for manslaughter. 
The case was a very sad one. On the 1st October, 
1876, the ferry-boat plying between the ferry slip at 
Youghal and the opposite shore had a very large 
number of passengers, no less than twenty-four per- 
sons, chiefly of the farming and dealing class, who had 
gone to Youghal from Ardmore and the neighbour- 
hood, and were returning with their marketing. These 
poor people all crowded into the boat. The day was 
most inclement; rain fell in heavy showers; wind 
blew in fitful gusts, and a heavy sea rolled from the 
harbour^s mouth. The boat was old and leaky, so 
that several of the passengers found their feet soaked 
when they took their seats. At length, having their 
full freight of passengers, the boatmen pushed off*. After 
leaving the shelter of the quay several heavy seas 



400 The Munster Circuits 

struck the old boat, and, alarmed the passengeraf, 
who prayed the boatmen to put back. Ere they could 
comply the boat filled, and no less than sixteen of the 
ill-fated passengers were drowned. Inquests were held 
on many of the bodies, and the lessee of the ferry and 
a boatman were sent to the Cork Assizes. They were 
tried for manslaughter before Mr. Robinson, Q.C. The 
evidence was very clear, and the jury found them both 
guilty. In passing a severe sentence the judge ad- 
verted to the danger of using a boat in so dilapidated 
a state as that which caused this lamentable accident, 
and considered the case was one which called for a 
severe sentence. He accordingly pronounced one. 

There was such an amount of criminal business for 
the county of Kerry as to require the assizes to be 
adjourned, and when the Cork dock was cleared the 
judges had to return to Tralee. 



The Munster Circuit. 401 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

The Eecreations of the Munster Bar. — Father Lyne. — Purcell 
O'Gronnan. — John Anster, LL.D. — Judge Talfourd. — Lite- 
rary Members of the Munster Bar. — ^The Blarney Banquet. — 
Theatricals in Limerick. — The present condition of the 
Munster Bar. 

The recreations of the Munster Bar is the subject of 
my last chapter of this eventful history. What social 
gatherings, pleasant memories of joyous evenings — 
alas ! too swiftly passed — do not these words recall. 
For I speak only of the past, the present is a sealed 
book to me, and therefore I refer only to days that are 
gone, when I went Circuit. Then our festive board 
was usually presided over by the mirth-compelling 
Father Lyne, or the ever genial, kindly presence of 
George Bennett. Con Lyne, as he was popularly 
called, looked the very embodiment of social mirth, 
and his disposition did not belie his looks. He went 
Circuit solely for the sake of the society it afforded 
him, and he contributed in no small degree to keep 
alive the perpetual stream of fun and merriment which 
kept us amused after the routine of our court business 
was over. To see him at the head of the long dinner- 
table — his purple-hued face reflecting as it were the 
colour of the wine circulating before him — his coat 
thrown back, his little rotund figure seated in his 

D d 



402 The Munsier Circuit 

chair^ lie reminded me of the jolly old Father Silenus 
of the Greeks. He was the best post-prandial orator I 
ever heard. In truth it was his forte. G rattan said 
of Flood, '' On a small question he was miserable. 
Give him a distaff^ and, like Hercules, he made sad 
work of it; but give him a thunderbolt, and he had 
the arm of a Jupiter.'^ Now Con Lyne was the re- 
verse of Flood. What he would have done with a 
great question I cannot say, for I had no opportunity of 
hearing him, but on small matters he was admirable. 
In proposing toasts, such as the health of our guests^ few 
equalled, none excelled him. He sang, too, amatory 
and convivial songs, of women and wine; the airs of 
the Beggar's Opera were his favourite melodies. A 
stranger hearing him called Con, inquired of a brother 
barrister, ''Is he Con of the Hundred Battles ?''^ 
*' No,^^ was the response, " He is Con of the Hundred 
Bottles.'' 

After dinner, at the Bar Mess, music, recitations, 
lively jest and witty repartee enlivened our gatherings. 
I violate no privacy — I promise to hurt no feelings, by 
disclosing how we passed our evenings. We usually 
had a piano in our dining-room at Cork, and many of 
our members were accomplished performers. Singing, 
with solos, duets, or glees, went with the notes of 
the instrument, and the solos of Mr. John Deane, son of 
the eminent Cork architect, the late Sir Thomas Deane, 
the duets of the distinguished and able Judge of the 
Admiralty, Mr. John Fitzhenry Townshend, and Mr. 
Garde ; the piano-playing of Mr. Richard Bourke^ and 

^ A famous Irish warrior was so designated. 



The Munster Circuit. 403 

others, was exceedingly good. All the members — Mr, 
M. J. Barry, Standish Thomas O'Grady, D. Griott — 
all who could add to the harmony of our society, were 
called on to do so, and cheerfully complied. 

On one occasion, Mr. Nicholas Purcell O^Gorman, 
who had long been secretary to the Catholic Asso- 
ciation, and associated with O'Connell in all his efforts 
to gain Catholic emancipation, being asked to sing, 
stoutly declared ^' he knew nothing of music of any 
sort.'' 

'' I think you are forgetting, Purcell,'' remarked a 
witty barrister at the table. 

'' Forgetting what?" 

'' That you can play sometimes." 

'' Put him on his trial," said Father Lyne. 

Thereupon the Bar Mess prosecutor for the Circuit 
impanelled a jury of our witty Father, under the 
name of Con Lyne, Con Sign, Con Fine, Con Dign, &c., 
to try whether the prisoner at the bar ever played upon 
any instrument whatever. 

The witness deposed '' that on a stated day, in the 
hall of the Catholic Association in Dublin, he saw and 
heard the prisoner publicly playing second fiddle to 
Dcmiel O^GonnelL^' 

This caused much amusement. 

Finding rhymes for diificult words sometimes exer- 
cised the talent of the barristers. 

Porringer was a crust, until thus hit off : — 

" Here's a rhyme for porringer, here's a rhyme for porringer, 
A king he had a daughter fair, and gave the Prince of Orange 
her." 

D d 2 



404 The Munster Circuit, 

The word Timbuctoo elicited the following : — 

'* If I were a cassowary 

On the plains of Timbuctoo, 
I'd eat lip a missionary, 

Togs and gown and hymn-book to." 

This was deemed rather irreverent towards the pious 
missionary, and the legal poets tried again, 

" I went a hunting on the plains — 
The plains of Timbuctoo ; 
I shot a buck for all my pains, 
And he was a slim buck too." 

This passed muster with the Munster Bar. 

Our most distinguished poet was John Anster, 
LL.D., a native of Charleville, in the county of Cork. 
He was a man of great and varied erudition. He ob- 
tained a scholarship in the University of Dublin, and 
his prize poem, " On the Death of the Princess Char^ 
lotte,^^ placed him in the front rank of modern poets. 
He was perhaps more famed in literary circles than at 
the Bar, as the translator of Goethe^s *^ Faust/' and 
the author of ^^ Xeniola,'^ and other poems. He was 
the readiest at finding rhymes. He alone found one for 
Apocalypse. It was not very flattering to his own 
countenance, which was comely and expressive of 
high talent : — 



<( 



Lo, Anster was there, with his pale face and chalky hps, 
Like to the beast that's found in the Apocalypse." 



Anster did, not continue long on the Circuit. Ho 



The Munster Circuit, 405 

never was fitted for court practice, and I suspect he 
devoted much more of his time to poetry than law. 
On being appointed Registrar of the Admiralty Court, 
whereof a very prosy lawyer, the late Sir Henry 
Meredyth, was the judge, Mr. F. W. Conway, pro- 
prietor of the Dublin Evening Post, meeting Anster, 
eorigratulated him on obtaining a snug sinecure. 

^^ What do you mean by a sinecure ? ^' asked Anster, 

" A place with little or nothing to do/^ 

" Then you are greatly mistaken if you think I am 
so fortunate,^' replied the poet. 

" What have you to do ? ^' asked Conway, in much 
surprise, for it was notorious the business was then 
next to nothing. 

''Listen to the judgments of Sir Henry Meredyth," 
said Anster, and he added the couplet : — 

If you want to be bored, and bored to the very death, 
Go list to a speech from Sir Henry Meredyth." 

Anster once — I believe only once — defended a pri- 
soner. A man named Kelly had incurred the enmity 
of the Whiteboys, and his doom was sealed. He was 
waylaid, and the contents of a blunderbuss stretched- 
him lifeless on the highway. Some clue was obtained, 
which led to the arrest of the murderer, and he stood 
in the dock in Cork, indicted for the capital crime. 

Being undefended, the Judge assigned John Anster, 
LL.D., to give the prisoner the benefit of his legal 
skill. It was a trying ordeal for poor Anster, who had 
little experience in common — less in criminal — law; 
but by some fatality, a material flaw in the indictment 



406 The Munster Circuit, 

to which the prisoner pleaded was whispered by some 
veteran friend^ and Anster, to the surprise of every 
one in general and himself in particular, made the 
point, obtained the ruling in his favour, and the pri- 
soner was acquitted. 

Anster sat up late that night in his lodgings in Old 
George Street, Cork. All the inmates of the house 
save himself were in bed, when a rude knock startled 
the poet-barrister. It was unattended to, and, when 
repeated, Anster went to the door. He heard his name 
pronounced, and, on opening the door, saw the White- 
boy whose life he saved by making the point which, 
upset the indictment. 

'^ Oh, Kelly, is that you ? *' he said, naming not the 
living, but the murdered man. 

*^ I'm not Kelly, plaze your honour," returned the 
client ; '' 'tis meself is the boy that shot him.'' 

This hardy avowal caused Anster to shut the door 
very speedily in the face of his first and last client 
from the dock. 

That poetry and legal ability are by no means incom- 
patible was proved by a very eminent member of the 
English Bar and Bench, who visited Cork during the 
assizes, and dined at the Bar Mess — the late Judge 
Talfourd. To those who had the happiness of knowing 
that eminent judge, I need hardly say how delighted 
the Munster Bar were when he gave us the pleasure of 
his company. He was a most accomplished man, and 
no one enjoyed the society of intellectual minds more. 

As Judge Talfourd's career affords an excellent proof 
how great literary fame may be combined with the 
practice of the Bar, I subjoin a brief account of this 



The Munster Circuit, 407 

accomplished member of the English Bench. In his 
early days Thomas Noon Talf ourd was connected with 
the London Press, and, I believe, a reporter for the 
Times. He prepared himself carefully for the legal 
profession, and, when called to the Bar, soon obtained 
practice. He displayed a masterly knowledge of the 
principles of law, which so gratified those who sought 
his services, he was soon recognized as a safe junior, 
and, though his love of literature caused some old 
heads to shake, judges held his law was not rendered 
unsound by his fame as a poet. His ability at the Bar 
increased his practice every year, and his reputation as 
an accomplished orator and successful dramatist kept 
pace with his reputation as an accurate lawyer. He 
obtained a seat in the House of Commons, and his 
speeches in Parliament on the law of copyright and 
his drama of " Ion " were familiar to the members of 
the Munster Bar. We hailed with sincere pleasure 
the visit of one whose legal, parliamentary, and literary 
fame shed such lustre upon our profession. 

Besides Dr. Anster, other members of the Munster 
Circuit gained distinction in various fields of literature. 
Dr. Kenealy, a native of the county Cork, and for a 
time on the Munster Circuit, published a work called 
^^ Brallaghan, or the Deipnosophists,^^ displaying much 
classical ability. His translation of the poem on 
Castle Hyde into Greek verse is admirable. He did 
not obtain practice on the circuit, and soon left the 
Irish for the English Bar. 

Michael Joseph Barry, also a native of Cork, was 
favourably known as a writer by his excellent poems 
in the magazines. His ^^ Kisshogue Papers,^' composed 



4o8 The Munster Circuit 

in the style of the '* Ingoldsby Legends/' are little, if 
at all, inferior to those humorous tales. In conjunc- 
tion with the late Judge Keogh, Mr. Barry compiled a 
work on " Chancery Practice/' which displayed mucli 
research. 

Another barrister of the , same name, the late Mr, 
Michael Barry, the Professor of Law in the Cork 
College, I was told occasionally obtained briefs in- 
tended for the writer on " Chancery Practice," and also 
invitations to ptjj'ties meant for the author of the lively 
'* Kisshogue I^apers.'' The frequency of these mistakes 
elicited the following jeu, d'esprit from the injured 
poet : — 

" No wonder my namesake my anger provokes, 
For h.e*9feed for my law, and he*B fed for my jokes." 

Mr. Michael Joseph Barry was deservedly esteemed 
by Charles Lever, and, when that popular writer 
edited the Dublin University Magazine, ranked Mr. 
Barry as one of the most esteemed contributors. 

Mr. Heron, Q.C., now a leader of the Circuit, has 
published an interesting ^' History of the University of 
Dublin/^ and some legal works relating to the Irish 
Land Laws, which display great knowledge of his 
subject. The late John P. Maguire, M.P., occasionally 
joined the Bar Mess. He too was a varied and able 
writer, as his '^ Irish in America,^' ^^ The Life of Father 
Mathew,'' and other works prove. Isaac Butt, M.P., 
Q.C., also contributed largely to enrich the pages of 
the Dublin University Magazine by his contributions, 
chiefly political. He has written a novel, ^' The Pass 



The Munster Circuit. 409 

of Barnesmore/^ a work on Italy, and several essays 
on various subjects. 

While on Circuit, our kind friends in Cork were 
profuse in their hospitality, and one of the banquets — 
which my memory recalls from its singularity — ^was 
given in true Celtic style by the late venerable Father 
Matt Horgan, parish priest of Blarney, 

It was a bright summer day during the Summer 
Assizes when, accompanied by Prank Walsh, John 
Francis Maguire, and other Cork notabilities, I drove 
to Father Mattes dinner-party. He received us in the 
banquetting-hall — a large bam. In the centre of this 
barn a long table literally groaned beneath such a pro- 
fusion of solids and fluids as I never beheld placed 
upon a table before or since. Here sirloins of beef 
jostled legs of mutton, rows of chickens alternated 
with hams and tongues, while whisky by the gallons 
and stacks of sugar by the loaf showed our worthy 
host resolved if any one went away hungry or thirsty 
the fault was his own. 

Father Matt himself was the very type of a hos- 
pitable Irishman. Tall and strong-limbed, though his 
silver locks showed the frosts of Time had touched his 
head, his words of welcome soon satisfied me they 
failed to reach his heart. We sat to our plentiful 
repast, and the appetite caused by the drive, and the 
air, and the good-fellowship, soon made considerable 
inroads upon the viands; while, after dinner, the 
flowing bowl went its circling round. Father Matt 
was a man of considerable antiquarian research, and 
the round tower at Blarney owed its erection to him. 

Another pleasure we derived was from the exercise 



410 Tlie Munster Circuit 

of hospitality. When a member of one of the other 
circuits in Ireland or England, or a former member of 
oar own, happened to be in the assize town at the same 
time with us, he was usually invited to dine with us at 
the Bar Mess. The sight of old, once familiar, faces 
was sure to awaken the memories of the past, and we 
sought to entertain our former companions with our 
best cheer. 

Our brethren who attended as special counsel were 
always honorary members of our mess, and many 
pleasant recollections are derived from some of those 
eminent members of other circuits amongst us. 

The Bar always patronize the drama, and both in 
Limerick and Cork the theatrical managers usually 
succeed in collecting a good company, and there is 
sure to be a performance under the special patronage 
of the members of the Bar. At Limerick a theatre 
was built in Comwallis Street, in 1770, which was a 
celebrated one in its day. It afforded the citizens the 
opportunity of witnessing the pwformances of the 
brightest stars of the theatrical firmament. Here 
David Garrick, Mossop, Barry, Ryder, Mrs. Siddons, 
Mr. Kean, Mr. Kemble, Macklin, George Frederick 
Cooke, Miss FaiTen, &c., delighted the spectators by 
the representation of the works of our best dramatists. 

But the playgoing citizens of Limerick were not 
solely indebted to foreign aid to support the stage. 
A very excellent corps of amateurs performed with 
decided success. One of them was well known to us 
in his own distinguished and respected character, the 
late Sir Mathew Barrington.' Others, whose taste and 
2 He died in Dublin, 1st April, 1861. 




The Munster Circuit. 411 

talent were often displayed npon the boards in support 
of local charities^ were Messrs. John M^AaliflF, Pierce 
Brett, John Gubbins, George Hogan, Andrew Tracy, 
and William Glover. 

We are told that from this old theatre one night the 
celebrated comedian, George Frederick Cooke, stag- 
gered forth intoxicated. He had taken more whisky 
than his brain could carry, and, arrayed in the dress in 
which he performed Petruchio in the *' Taming of the 
Shrew,'^ set forth to return to his hotel. Missing his 
way, he was attracted by a light in a window, and 
entered a poor, humble house, in one of the narrow 
lanes, where the inmates were waking a corpse. A 
group of aged crones were keening over the deceased, 
when Cooke suddenly entered. He scared the assem- 
blage by his strange appearance, and, advancing 
towards the bed on which the body lay, he addressed 
the mourners with— 

'^How now, ye secret, black, and midnight hags, 
what is^t ye do ? '' 

We can readily believe the comedy in which he 
lately played was very nearly followed by a tragedy, 
but he managed to get to his hotel. 

Among the notable residents or natives of Limerick, 
who distinguished themselves in the theatrical profes- 
sion, were Andrew Cherry and Miss Catherine Hayes. 
Cherry composed " The Soldier's Daughter '' and 
''The Travellers,'' to which Dibdin contributed the 
songs. He was originally a printer, and employed in 
the printing office of the Limerick Journal newspaper* 
The vicissitudes of an actor's life were experienced by 
him; at one time on the verge of starvation as a 



412 The Munster Circuit. 

strolling player, then for several years one of the lead- 
ing comedians at Covent Garden. He must have been 
a witty man, judging from the following anecdote. 
Once, when asked to form part of a company by a 
manager who had not fulfilled a former engagement, 
he replied, — 

• '^ Sir, — ^You have bitten me once, and I am resolved 
you shall not make two bites of 

'^A. Cherry." 

Edmund Kean appears to have been unpopular in 
Limerick. The Assembly Rooms, on Charlotte Quay, 
opened on September 13th, 1824, with '' Richard III.,^' 
Kean playing Richard. He played for five nights to 
empty houses, and though engaged for twelve nights, 
threw up his engagement in disgust. On a subsequent 
visit he was better supported, and played alternately 
tragedy and comedy. 

The present Theatre Royal, in Henry Street, was 
built by Mr. Joseph Fogarty in 1841. 

The habits and manners of the playgoing gentry of 
Limerick have happily changed since O'Connell's time, 
as the following anecdote shows : — ^At the Bar Mess, 
during the Spring Assizes of 1 81 2, one of the bar, Mr. 
Standish O^Grady, addressing O'Connell, who sat next 
him at table, said, " I am going to the play, O'Con- 
nell ; will you come ? ^^ 

*' No, indeed,^^ replied O'Connell, ^' the bills inform 
us the play to-night is under the patronage of the 
grand jury. I have had some unpleasant experience of 
those gentlemen, and can assure you they are not the 
most agreeable companions in a box after dinner." 



The Munster Circuit. 41 3 

O'Connell and several others of the Bar sat chatting 
at the Bar Mess^ and before they separated for the 
night were joined by O^Grady. 

'' I thought, Standish/' said Dan, '^ you were at the 
theatre?'' 
^ '' I went there, sure enough,'' replied O'Grady, 
" and, Dan, you are quite right. I was shown into the 
centre box, and made myself comfortable in the front 
row, when a dozen noisy fellows came in. On seeing 
one of them had his head close to a peg on which I 
had placed my hat, I said to him, very civilly, ' I hope 
my hat does not obstruct your view. If so, pray allow 
me to remove it.' 

'^ ^ Faith, my tight fellow,' he replied, ^ you may 
take your oath it doesn't, for if it did, I'd kick it into 
the pit, and yourself after it.' Now, as this fellow and 
his companions looked as if they thought the kicking 
affair would be prime fun, and as I dislike being kicked 
in or out of a theatre, I made no remonstrance, but put 
on my hat and left the box." 

I here conclude my " History of the Munster Cir- 
cuit." I have followed its course from the days of 
Queen Elizabeth to the reign of our Most Gracious 
Sovereign, Queen Victoria. I have shown that 
during three centuries we have had upright judges, 
able advocates, and impartial jurors. I have pre- 
served the names and recorded the achievements of 
our most distinguished barristers ; their fame is our 
inheritance, and it is, certainly, a source of pride for 
me to reflect that for learning, for ability, for high 
principle, for every attribute which distinguishes men 
as barristers and as gentlemen, the members of the 



414 '^f^ Munster Circuit 

Munster Circuit to-day may challenge competition with 
their renowned predecessors. If my history merits 
their approval, I shall be sincerely happy. Of those 
who were my beloved companions upon the Circuit for 
the greater part of my time, many are passed away, 
while others enjoy the honours of the profession, and 
now adorn the bench. Some few are still in harness, 
and, in reading over my pages, they, I trust, will find 
nothing to condemn. They were ever kind and friendly 
towards me, and I take this opportunity of expressing 
my belief that the Munster Bar deserves the high 
esteem in which it has been held by the public. 

" My task is done, my tale hath ceased, my theme 

Has died into an echo ; it is fit 

The spell should break of this protracted dream. 

The torch shall be extinguished which hath lit 

My midnight lamp, and what is writ is writ." 

Would it were worthier ! 



THE END. 



INDEX. 



Abduction, 86, 135. 
Annaly, O.J., Lord, 91. 
Anne, Queen, 76, 77. 
Anster, LL.D., John, 404. 
Arbnthnot, Miss, 86. 
Arbuthnot, Sir Thomas, 301. 
Ardmore, 399. 
Armstrong, J. W., 113, 130. 
Ashworth, Rev. J. H., 220. 
Aston, Sir W., 61. 
Atterbnry, Bishop, 222. 
Anbrey's Lives, 17. 

Bagnal, Marshal, 10. 
Ball, Judge, 248, 368. 
Banim, John, 213. 
Bamewall, Sir R., 71. 
Barrington, Sir Jonah, 109, 2C4. 
Barrington, Sir Matthew, 410. 
Barry, Right Hon. Judge, 240. 
Barry, John Harold, 320, 328. 
Barry, M. J., 403, 407. 
Barry, Professor, 248. 
Beecher, Sir Henry, 38. 
Bennett, Q.C., George, 293, 360. 
Bernard, Judge, 93. 
Bevan, Michael, 396. 
Blackball, Mr., 394. 
Blackwater, the, 16. 
Bolingbroke, Lord, 77. 



Boucicault, Dion, 292. 
Bourke, Mr. Richard, 402. 
Boyle, Earl of Cork, 38, 39. 
Brady, Chief Baron, 373. 
Brereton, Q.C., W. W., 361. 
Bridgeman, Mr., 223. 
Brougham, Lord, 268. 
Browne, Nicholas, 6. 
Browne, Sir Valentine, 6. 
Browne, Serjeant, 139, 260. 
Bruce, G. E., 188, 279. 
Bunratty Castle, 224. 
Burgh, Walter Hussey, 106. 
Burke's Peerage, 263. 
Burke's, William, ride, 324. 
Bull, Mr., 395. 
Butler, Sir Toby, 71. 
Butt, Q.C., M.P., Isaac, 362, 408. 

Callaghan, Mat, 84. 

Callanan's Lament, 96. 

Campbell, Lord, 13. 

Garden, Mr., 86. 

Carew, Sir George, 20, 33. 

Carleton, C. J., Lord, sketch of, 

108, 254. 
Carr, Billy, 231. 
Casey, Mr., 140. 
Cecil, letter to, 3. 
Chatham's, Lord, statue, 263. 



4i6 



Index. 



Chatterton,yice-Chancellor,254, 

364 
Cherry, Andrew, 411. 
Christian, Lord Justice, 265. 
Clancarthy, Earl of, 6. 
Clare, Earl of, 9, 10. 
Coe, Jane, 40. 
Collins, Q.C., Stephen, sketch 

of, 362. 
CoUis, Cook-, 48, 84. 
Cooke, G. F., 411. 
Cooper, Q.C., Harry, sketch of, 

363. 
Coppinger, Sir R., 41. 
Corbet, Chief Baron, 47. 
Cork, 4; 7, 9, 33, 36 ; account of, 

252. 
Cornwallis, Lord, 137, 259. 
Cotter, Sir James, 67. 
Cox, Sir Richard, ^1, 254. 
Crampton, Judge, 214, 
Creagh, Michael, 311. 
Creggan Tower, 220. 
Croke, Mr., case of, 338. 
Cromwell, GUver, 45, 46, 225. 
Crookshank, Judge, 1C9. 
Crowe, Thomas, trial of, 394. 
Curran, John Philpot, 2, 106, 

107, 113, 119, 126, 132, 149 ; 

orations, 254, 262. 

Day, Judge, 127, 139, 162, 260. 
Deane, Mr. John, 402. 
Deasy,Lord Justice, 254 ; sketch 

of, 376. 
Desmond, Earl of, 13, 14,20, 23. 
Devon, Earl of, 291. 
Doherty, Right Hon. John, 

speech of, 315. 



Doneraile, Lord, 122. 
Doneraile, Special Commis- 
sioner, 307. 
Downes, C.J., Lord, 262. 
Duels, 126," 126, 223, 224. 

Duggan, Mr., 74. 
Dunboyne, 5. 

Eaton, Mr. R. M., 394. 
EHzabeth, Queen, 2, 5, 14, 19. 
Ennis, 9 ; described, 211. 
Evans, Admiral, 311. 

FiNUCANB, Judge, 140, 153, 215. 
Fitton, Sir E., 9. 
FitzGerald, Baron, 265, 397. 
FitzGerald, Colonel, 141. 
FitzGerald, Judge, 228, 359. 
FitzGibbon, John, 102. 
FitzGibbon, Lord Chancellor, 

104, 128. 
FitzGibbon, Master, 104. 
FitzGibbon, Lord Justice, 104. 
Fitzpatrick's "Ireland before 

the Union," 243. 
Fleetwood, Lord Deputy, 47. 
Fletcher, Judge, 264. 
Flood, Mr., 2«i. 
Foley, Mr., 224. 

Franks, Family, fate of the, 300. 
Franks, Sir John, 160. 
Freeman of Castlecon, 74, 140. 
Frost, J.P., James, 217. 

Galteb Castle described, 386. 

Garde, Mr., 402. 

" Gflrryowen,** Latin version of, 

229. 
Geary, Dr., 373. 



Index. 



417 



Gibson's "History of Cork," 

10, 19, 21, 40, 46, 65, 98, 100. 
Gilbert's " History of DubHn/' 

70. 
Gladstone, Eight Hon. W. E., 

382. 
Glin, Knight of, 296. 
G^ing, Major, 291. 
Goold, Thomas, 160. 
Goold, Wyndham, 365, 366. 
Grady, Harry D., 241. 
Grady, Thomas, 278. 
Graves,D.D., Right Eev. Charles, 

242. 
Greatrakes, Valentine, 59.. 
Greene, Baron, 213, 380. 
Griffin, Gerald, 292. 
Griott, Dan, 403. 
Gnbbins, Rev. H., 298. 

Halt, Chief Justice, 81. 
Hare, Major, 292. 
Hart, Sir Anthony, 340. 
Hatton, Sir Christopher, 12. 
Hawke, Admiral, statue of, 253. 
Hawkes worth, Amory, 154. 
Hayes, Sir H., trial of, 163. 
Hayman, Rev. Canon, 60. 
Henn, William, 160 ; family of. 

216. 
Henn, Jonathan, 354. 
Henn, Thomas Rice, 216. 
Hennessy, Mr. Pope, 15. 
Henry YIII., 12. 
Heron, Q.C., D. C, 396, 408. 
Highfort, gallant defence of, 272. 
Holmes, Robert, 347, 348. 
Horgan, Father Matt, 409. 
Howard, Mr., 224. 



Hutchinson, Colonel, murder of, 
177. 

Jackson, Judge, 254, 350. 
James I., refusal to proclaim, 33. 
James II., statue in Cork, 252. 
Jebb, Bishop, 243. 
Jocelyn, Solicitor- General, 93. 

Kean, Edmund, 411. 

Kelly, James, 374. 

Kelly, Jerry, 153, 257. 

Kelly, John, 69. 

Kelly, Judge, 139. 

Kelly, Thomas, 69. 

Kenealy, Dr., 407. 

Kennedy, Misses, abduction of, 

87. 
Keogh, Judge, 360, 398. 
Korry, state of, 133 ; eminent 

barristers, 251. 
Kilcolman Castle, 16. 
Killaloe, 211. 
Eallarney, 251. 
Kilworth, 48. 
Kimberly, Mr., case of, 93. 
Kingston, Earl of, 140; romance, 

143 ; estate of, 386. 
Kirwan, Dean, 242. 
Knight's vow, the White, 23, 

386. 

Lawrence, Mr., 395. 
Lawson, Judge, sketch of, 383. 
Lee River, 251. 
Lenehan's "History of Limerick" 

quoted, 227, 242, 271, 291, 

375. 
Limerick, 207 ; described, 227. 

E e 



4i8 



Index. 



Limerick to Tralee, 246. 
Long, Mr., 347. 
Longfield, Judge, 255. 
Louis XVI.. 138. 
Low, Greorge Bond, 308. 
Lyne, Con, eketcli of, 401. 
Lysaght, Ned, 157, 217. 

MacOarthy, D. F., 244. 
MacCarthy, Francis, 313. 
MacOarthy, Lady Ellen, 5. 
MacCraith, Dr., 394. 
MacDonogh, 5. 
Macmahon, Sir Wm., 160. 
Macnally, L., 234. 
Macnamara, 219. 
Madden, Dr. E. E., 112. 
Madden, Daniel 0., 1, 181, 182, 

249. 
Magner, Mr., escape of, 42. 
Maguire, M.P., John Francis, 

408. 
Malone, Prime Serjeant, 71. 
Mansfield, Lord, 265. 
Marley, Attorney-General, 93. 
Massy, Eev. C, case of, 184. 
Mayne, Judge, 256, 257. 
Mead, W., 34. 
Metge, Baron, 263. 
Midleton, Lord, 254. 
Moore, Eev. E., 135. 
Moore, Thomas, 154. 
Morrice, Eev. Wm., 222. 
Mount-Cashel, Earl of, 48, 383. 
Monntjoy, Lord, 35. 
Mnsgrave, Sir Bichard, 383. 

Nagle, Garrett, 321. 



Newton, Florence, trial of, for 

witchcraft, 51. 
Noonan, Maurice, trial of, 272. 
Norbnry, C. J., Lord, anecdotes 

of, 214, 265. 
Norcott, Dr., 311. 
Norreys, Sir Denham, 6. 
Norreys, Sir John, 14. 
Norreys, Sir Thomas, 6, 19. 
Nosegay Trial, 278. 
Nugent, Constable, 393. 

O'Bbien, 4, 85, 116. 

O'Brien, Judge, 237 ; ^.ddress to 

and reply, 239. 
O'Brien, Peter, 396. 
O'Connell, Dan, 138, 212, 249, 

284, 287, 297, 305, 335, 403. 
O'FIanagan's "Lives of Lord 

Chancellors," 73. 
O'Gorman, N. P., 403. 
O'Grady, Chief Baron, sketch 

of, 232, 270. 
O'Hagan, Lord, 370. 
O'Leary, Father, 106. 
O'Loghlen, 3, 212. 
O'Loghlen, Sir Colman, 215, 394. 
O'Loghlen, Sir Michael, 215. 
O'Neill, Dr., 394. 
O'Eeordan, Mr., 397. 
Ordeal by water, 61. 
Orpen, Messrs., 256. 
Orrery, Lord, .48. 
O'SuUivan, 5, 83, 95, 97. 
Otway, Q.C., John H., 362. 

Paesons, Mr., 267. 
Pennefather, Baron, 153, 293, 
305, 312, 326, 333, 334. 



Index^ 



419 



Perrin, Judge, 83. 
Phillips, Mr., 122. 
Phipps, Sir Constantine, 77. 
Pick, Sir Vesyan, 137. 
Pigot, Chief Baron, 254, 313. 
Pike, Miss, prosecution by, 162. 
Plunket, Lord, 347, 348. 
Plunket, Q.G., Mr. James, 304, 

313. 
Ponsonby, Right Hon. G., 186, 

259. 
Power, Baron, suicide of, 129. 
Purcell, Sir John, 272. 
Pyne, Chief Justice, 78. 

QuiN, Mr., sketch of, 151, 188, 

305. 
Quin Abbey described, 217. 

Raleigh, Sir Walter, 15. 

Reports, Irish Term, 105. 

Rice, Sir Stephen, Chief Baron, 
72. 

Robinson, Q.C., Mr. Serjeant, 
398, 399. 

Roche, 4, 103. 

Roche, James, essays by, 105, 
113, 138. 

Roche, Mr. John, 397. 

Ryland's " History of Water- 
ford," 35. 

Sajlsfieu), Tom, 35. 

Saurin, W., 259. 

Scanlan's trial, 293. 

Scott, C.J., Earl of Clonmel, 

107. 
Scully, Q.C., Vincent, 379. 



Shannon River, 246. 

Sheares, Henry and John, 112, 
113, 138. 

Sidney, Sir Henry, 4, 13. 

Singleton, Prime Serjeant, 93. 

Six-Mile Bridge, 219. . 

Smith's "History of Cork," 
386. 

Smith, Sir W. C, Baron, 262. 

Smith, Thos. B. C, Master of 
the Rolls, 263. 

Smith's " Law Officers of Ire- 
land," 52, 77. 

Southwell, Sir Robt., 65, ^^, 

Spaight, Sam., 223. 

Spenser, Edmund, 15. 

Spenser, Sylvanus, 18. 

Steele, Tom, 221. 

St. Leger, Sir W., 20. 

Strafford, Lord, 40. 

Strange, Mr., trial of, 87. 

Sugden, Sir E. B., 318. 

Sullivan, Right Hon. E., sketch 
of, 380. 

Talfourd, Judge, 406. 
Thornton, Sir George, 33. 
Tisdall, Right Hon. P., 71. 
Tone, Theobald W., 136. 
Torrens, Judge, 313, 326, 327, 

331. 
Townshend, Hon. Judge, 255, 

402. 
Tralee described, 247. 
Tuckey's Cork Remembrancer, 

134, 135. 
Twiss, Mr., 330. 

Vaudeleur, Colonel, 219, 221. 



"» 

y ' 



420 



Index. 



Victoria, Her Majesty Queen, 

413. 
Villiera, Sir Edward, 38. 

Waggett, Becorder, 157. 
Waller, Mr., 292. 
Walsh, Eight Hon. John Ed- 
ward, 380. 
Warren, Judge, 254. 



Wellington, the Duke of, letter, 

268. 
Whiteside, Eight Hon. C. J., 

377. 
Wood, Major, 145. 

Yblverton, C.B., Lord Avon- 
more, 255. 
Yelverton, Hon. Major, 384. 



GILBEBT AND BIVIKGTON, FlilKTEBS, ST. JOHN'S 8QUABE, LONDOK. 



A Catalogue of American and Foreign Books Published or 

Imported by Messrs. Sampson Low & Co. can 

be had on application. 

Crown Buildings, i88, Fleet Street, London, 
October, 1879. 

PUBLISHED BY 

SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & RIVINGTON. 



ALPHABETICAL LIST. 

A CLASSIFIED Educationcd Catalogue of Works pub- 
'^~*- lished in Great Britain. Demy 8vo, cloth extra. Second Edition, 
revised and corrected to Christmas, 1878, 5^. 

Ahney {Captain W. de W,, R.E,, FR.S.) Thebes, and its Five 
Greater Temples. Forty large Permanent Photographs, with descrip- 
tive letter-press. Super-royal 4to, cloth extra, 63^. 

About Some Fellows. By an Eton Boy, Author of " A Day 

of my Life." Cloth limp, square i6mo, 2j. (yd. 

Adventures of Captain Mago. A Phoenician's Explorations 
1000 years B.C. By Leon Cahun. Numerous Illustrations. Crown 
8vo, cloth extra, gilt, 7^. 6</, 

' Adventures of a Young Naturalist, By Lucien Biart, with 
117 beautiful Illustrations on Wood. Edited and adapted by Parker 
GiLLMORE. Post 8vo, cloth extra, gilt edges, New Edition, 7j. td, 

Afghanistan and the Afghans, Being a Brief Review of the 
History of the Country, and Account of its People. By H. W. 
Bellew, C.S.I. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 6j. 

Alcott {Louisa M,) Jimmy's Cruise in the " Pinafore^* With 9 

Illustrations. Small post 8vo, cloth gilt, 3^. 6d^ 

Aunt Jds Scrap-Bag, Square i6mo, 2s, 6d 

(Rose Library, is. ) 
— Cupid and Chow- Chow. Small post 8vo, 3^. 6d, 

Little Men :. Life at Flumfield with Jds Boys, Small 



post8vo, cloth, gilt edges, 3x. dd. (Rose Library, Double vol 2^.) 

Little Women, i vol., cloth, gilt edges, 3^. 6^. (Rose 



Library, 2 vols., is. each.) 

Old-Fashioned Girl, Best Edition, small post 8vo, 



cloth extra, gilt edges, y. 6d. (Rose Library, 2s.) 



1 



Sampson Low, Marston^ &* Co,^s 



Alcott {Louisa M,) Work and Beginning Again. A Story of 

Experience. I vol., small post 8vo, cloth extra, 6s, Several Illustra- 
tions. (Rose Library, 2 vols., is, each.) 

— Shawl Straps, Small post 8vo, cloth extra, gilt, ^s, 6d, 

Eight Cousins; or^tJu Aunt If ill. Small post 8vo, 

with Illustrations, 3^. (xL 

The Rose in Bloom. Small post 8 vo, cloth extra, 31. 6i. 

Silver Pitchers. Small post 8vo, cloth extra, y. 6d. 

Under the Lilacs. Small post 8vo, cloth extra, 5^. 



'*Mis.s Alcott's stories are thoroughly healthy, full of racy fun and humour 
exceedingly entertaining .... We can recommend the 'Eight Cou^ns."*— 
Aiheuaum, 

Alpine Ascents and Adventures ; or, Rock and Snow Sketches, 
By H. SCHiJTZ Wilson, of the Alpine Club. With Illustrations by 
Whymper and Marcus Stone. Crown 8vo, lor. 6d. 2nd Edition. 

Andersen {Hans Christian) Fairy Tales, With Illustrations in 
Colours by E. V. B. Royal 4to, cloth, 251. 

Andrews {Dr.) Latin-English Lexicon, New Edition. Royal 
8vo, 1670 pp., cloth extra, i&r. 

Animals Painted by Themselves. Adapted from the French of 
Balzac, Georges Sands, &c., with 200 Illustrations by Grandville. 
8vo, cloth extrai gilt, loj. (id. 

Art Education, See " Illustrated Text Books." 
Art of Reading Aloud {T/ie) in Pulpit, Lecture Room, or Private 
Reunions, with a perfect system of Economy of Lung Power on just 
principles for acquiring ease in Delivery, and a thorough command of 
the Voice. By G. Vandenhoff, M. A. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 6s. 
Art Treasures in the South Kensington Museum. Preparing for 
Publication in Monthly Parts, with the sanction of the Science and 
Art Department, each containing Many Plates price \s. In this 
series will be included representations of Decorative Art of all countries 
and all times from objects in the South Kensington Museum, under 
the following classes : — 

Sculpture : Works in Marble, Ivory, and Terra-Cotta. 

Bronzes : Statuettes, Medallions* Plaques, Coins. 

Decorative Painting and Mosaic. 

Decoi-ative Furniture and Carved Wood- Work. 

Ecclesiastical Metal- Work. 

Gold an^ Silversmiths* Work and Jewellery. 

Limoges and Oriental Enamels. 

Pottery of all Countries. 

Glass : Oriental, Ver^etian, and German. 

Ornamental Iron-Work : Cutlery. 

Textile Fabrics : Embroidery and Lace. 

Decorative Bookbinding. 

Original Designs for Works of Decorative Art 

Views of the Courts and Galleries of the Museum* 

Architectural Decorations of the Museum. 



J 



List of FuUications. 



The Plates will be carefully printed with a Japanese tint in atlas 8vo 
(13 in. by 9 in.), on thick ivory-tinted paper. They will be included 
in a stout wrapper, ornamented with z, drawing from *• The Genoa 
Doorway " recently acquired by the Museum. 

Parts L and II, are in preparation^ and will be ready at Christmas, 

Asiatic Turkey : being a Narrative of a Journey from Bombay 
to the Bosphorusi embracing a ride of over One Thousand Miles, 
from the head of the Persian Gulf to Antioch on the Mediten;anean. 
By Grattan Geary, Editor of the Times of India, 2 vols., crown 
8vo, cloth extra, with many Illustrations, and a Route Map. 

Atlantic Islands as Resorts of Health and Pleasure, By 
S. G. W. Benjamin, Author of " Contemporary Art in Europe," &c. 
Royal 8vo, cloth extra, with upwards of 150 Illustrations, its, 

Australian Abroad {The), Branches from the Main Routes 
Round the World. Comprising the Author's Route through Japan, 
China, Cochin-China, Malasia, Sunda, Java, Torres Straits, Northern 
Australia, New South Wales, South Australia, and New Zealand. By 
James Kingston ("J. H." of the Melbourne Argus), With Maps 
and numerous Illustrations from Photographs, including a Frontis- 
piece, representing the famous Boer Buddha Temple, Java. Demy 
8vo, 14J. 

Autobiography of Sir G. Gilbert Scott, R,A., F.S.A,, 6-r. 
Edited by his Son, G. Gilbert Scott. With an Introduction by the 
Dean of Chichester, and a Funeral Sermon, preached in West- 
minster Abbey, by the Dean of Westminster. Also, Portrait on 
steel from the portrait of the Author by G. Richmond, R. A. i vol, 
demy 8vo, cloth extra, i8j. 

JDAKER {Lieut.'Gen. Valentine, Pasha), See "War in 
-^ Bulgaria." 



THE BAYARD SERIES, 

Edited by the late J. Hain Friswell. 

Comprising Pleasure Books of Literature produced in the Choicest Style as 
Companionable Volumes at Home and Abroad. 

*' We can hardly imagine better books for boys to read or for men to ponder 
over." — Times. 

Price M. td. each Volumey complete in itself^ flexible cloth extrut gilt edges, 
with silk Headbands and Registers. 

The Story of the Chevalier Bayard, By M. De Berville. 
Dejoinvill^s St. Louis, King of France, 
Tlie Essays of Abraham Cowley, including all his Prose Works. 
Abdallah ; or the Four Leaves. By Edouard Laboullaye. 
Table- Talk and Opinions of Napoleon Buonaparte, 
Vathek : An Oriental Romance, • By William Beckford. 

A 2 



Sampson Low^ Marston^ &» Go's 



The Bayard Series {continued) : — 

The King and the Commons, A Selecrion of Cavalier and 

Puritan Songs. Edited by Prof. Morley. 
Words of Wellington: Maxims and Opinions of the Great 

Duke. 
Dr. Johnson* s jRasselas, Prince of Abyssinia. With Notes. 
Hazliifs Round Table, With Biographical Introduction. 
The Religio Medici^ Hydriotaphia^ and the Letter to a Friend. 

By Sir Thomas Browne, Knt 
Ballad Poetry of the Affections. By Robert Buchanan. 
Coleridgis Christabel^ and other Imaginative Poems. With 

Preface by Algernon C. Swinburne. 
Lord Chesterfield's Letters^ Sentences^ and Maxims. With 

Introduction by the Editor, and Essay on Chesterfield by M. DE Ste.- 

Beuve, of the French Academy. 

Essays in Mosaic. By Thos. Ballantyne. 

My Uncle Toby; his Story and his Friends. Edited by 

P. Fitzgerald. 
Reflections; or. Moral Sentences and Maxims of the Duke de 

la Rochefoucauld. 
Socrates : Memoirs for English Readers from Xenophon*s Metno^ 

rabilia. By Edw. Levien. 
Prince Alberts Golden Precepts. 

A Case containing za Volumes, price 3U. 6</. ; ot the Case se^ratefy, j^rice j/s. 6d, 

Beauty and the Beast. An Old Tale retold, with Pictures by 
£. V. B. Pemy 4to, cloth extra, novel bindixig. 10 Illustrations 
in Colours, izr. 6(/. 

Beiimer^ German Copybooks. In six gradations at ^d. each. 

Biart {Lucien). See "Adventures of a Young Naturalist," 
«* My Rambles in the New World," "The Two Friends/' " Involun- 
tary Voyage" 

Bickersteth^s Hymnal Companion to Book of Common Prayer 
may be had in various styles and bindings from \d, to 2ix. Pria 
List and Prospectus will be forwarded on application. 

Bickersteth {Rev. E. ZT., MA.) The Reef and other Parables. 

I vol., square 8vo, with numerous very beautiiiil Engravings, 2s. 6d. 

The Clergyman in his Home. Small post 8vo, \s. 

The Master's Home- Call ; or^ Brief Memorials of 

Alice Frances Bickersteth. 20th Thousand. 32mo, cloth gilt, is. 

The Master's Will. A Funeral Sermon preached 



on the Death of Mrs. S. Gumey Buxton. Sewn, 6d, ; cloth gilt, is. 

— The Shadow of the Rock. A Selection of Religious 

Poetry. i8mo, cloth extra, 2s: 6d. 



List of Publications, 



Bickers teth {J^ev. £, If.fAf.A.) The Shadowed Home and the 
Light Beyond. 7th Edition, crown 8vo, cloth extra, 5j. 

Bida, The Authorized Version of the Four Gospels, with the 

whole of the magnificent Etchings on Steel, after drawings by M. 

Bida, in 4 vols., appropriately bound in cloth extra, price 3/. 3J. each. 

Also the four volumes in two, bound in the best morocco, by Suttaby, 

extra gilt edges, 18/. i8x., half-morocco, 12/. lis, 

*' fiida's I^ustrations of the Gospels of St Matthew and St. John have already 
received here and elsewhere a full recognition of their great merits." — Times. 

Biographies of the Great Artists, Illustrated, This Series is 
issued in the form of Handbooks. Each is a Monograph of a Great 
Artist, and contains Portraits of the Masters, and as many examples 
of their art as can be readily procured. They are Illustrated with from 
16 to 20 Full-page Engravings. Cloth, large crown 8vo, y, 6d. per 
Volume. 

Titian. Biibens. Tintoret and Veronese. 

Bembrandt. liionaxdo. Hoerartli. 

Kaphael. Turner. Slichelangrelo. 

Van Byck and Hals. The Utile Masters. Beynolds. 
Holbein. Delaroohe&Vemet. Gainsborou^li. 

Fifirure Painters of Holland. 

"A deserving Series, based upon recent German publications. "—i?<//ff3»y2^A 
Hfvigw. 
" Most thoroughly and tastefully edited." — Sptctator. 

Black ( Wm,^ Three Feathers. Small post 8vo, cloth extra, 6j. 

Lady SUverdalis Sweetheart, and other Stories, i vol., 

small p9st 8vo. 6j. 

' Kilmeny : a Novel. Small post 8vo, cloth, 6s. 

' In Silk Attire. 3rd Edition, small post Svo, 6s. 
A Daughter of Heth. nth Edition, small post Svo, 6s ^ 



Blackmore (JR. D.) Loma Doone, loth Edition, cr. Svo, 6s. 

"The reader at times holds his breath, so graphically yet so simply does John^ 
Ridd tell his tale." — Saturday Review. 

'— Alice Lorraine, i vol., small post Svo, 6th Edition, 6s.. 

Clara Vaughan. Revised Edition, 6s. 

Cradock Nowell. New Edition, 6s. 

Cripps the Carrier. 3rd Edition, small post Svo, 6s. 

' — Mary Anerley. 3 vols., 31 J. 6d. [In the press. 

Blossoms from the Kin^s Garden : Sermons for Children. By 
the Rev. C. Bosanquet. 2nd Edition, small post Svo, cloth extra, 6s. 

Blue Banner (The); or. The Adventures of a Mussulman, a 
Christian, and a Pagan, in the time of the Crusades and Mongol 
Conquest. Translated from the French of Leon Cahun. "With 
Seventy-six Wood Engravings. Square imperial i6mo, cloth, 
7j. 6d. 



Sampson Low, Marston, 6^ Coh 



Book of English Elegies, By W. F. March Phillipps. Small 

post 8vo, cloth extra, 5j. 

Boy's Froissart {The). 75. 6d. See " Froissart" 
Brave Janet: A Story for Girls ; and. The Children's Trusts : 
A Story of Beech-Tree Dingle. By Alice Lee. With Frontispiece 
by M. Ellen Edwards. Square 8vo, cloth extra, y, (xi. 
Brave Men in Action. By S. J. Mackenna. Crown 8vo, 

480 pp., cloth, lox. 6^. 

Brazil and the Brazilians. By J.. C. Fletcher and D. P. 
Kidder. 9th Edition, Illustrated, 8vo, 2.1s. 

Breton Folk : An Artistic Tour in Brittany. By Henry 
Blackburn, Author of ** Artists and Arabs," ** Normandy Pictu- 
resque," &c. With 171 Illustrations by Randolph Caldecott. 
Imperial 8vo, cloth extra, gilt edges, 2ix. 

British Goblins : Welsh Folk-Lore, Fairy Mythology, Legends^ 
and Traditions. By Wirt Sykes, United States Consul for Wales. 
With Illustrations by J. H. Thomas. This account of the Fairy 
Mythology and Folk- Lore of his Principality is, by permission, dedi- 
cated to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, i voL, demy 8vo, 
i8j. 

Bryant (W. C, assisted by S. H. Gay) A Popular History of 
the United States. About 4 vols., to be profusely Illustrated with 
Engravings on Steel and Wood, after Designs by the best Artists. 
Vol. I., super-royal 8vo, cloth extra, gilt, 42J., is ready. 

Buckle {Henry Thomas) The Life and Writings of. By Alfred 
Henry Huth. With Portrait. 2 vols., demy 8vo. , 

Bumaby {Capt.) 5^^ " On Horseback." 

Burnham Beeches {Heath, F. G.). With numerous Illustrations. 

Crown 8vo, cloth, gilt edges, 3J. 6d. 
Butler { W. F.) The Great Lone Land; an Account of the Red 

River Expedition, 1869-70. With Illustrations and Map. Fifth and 

Cheaper Edition, crown 8vo, cloth extra, *J5. 6d. 
The Wild North Land; the Story of a Winter Journey 

with Dogs across Northern North America. Demy 8vo, cloth, with 

numerous Woodcuts and a Map, 4th Edition, i8x. Cr. 8vo, 71. dd, 
Akim-foo : the History of a Failure. Demy 8vo, cloth, 



2nd Edition, 16^*. Also, in crown 8vo, 7^. 6d. 

nADOGAN {Lady A.) Illustrated Games of Patience. 
^ Twenty-four Diagrams in Colours, with Descriptive Text. Foolscap 

4to, cloth extra, gilt edges, 3rd Edition, I2j. 6^. 
Caldecott {R,). See " Breton Folk." 
Canada under the Administration of Lord Dufferin. By G. 

Stewart, Jun., Author of "Evenings in the Library," &c Cloth 

gilt, 8vo, 15X. 

Cation Process {A Manual of). See Liesegang. 



List of Publications, 



Ceramic Art, See Jacquemart. 

CJmnged Cross {The\ and other Religious Poems. i6mo, 2s, 6d. 

CJmnt Book Companion to the Book of Common Prayer, Con- 
sisting of upwards of 550 Chants for the Daily Psalms and for the 
Canticles ; also Kyrie Eleisons, and Music for the Hymns in Holy 
Communion, &c. Compiled and Arranged under the Musical Editor- 
ship of C. J. Vincent, Mus. Bac. Crown 8vo, 2s, 6d. ; Organist's 
Edition, fcap. 4to, $s. 

0/ various Editions (if Hymnal Companion, Lists will he forwarded on 

application. 

Child of the Cavern (The) ; or^ Strange Doings Underground, 
By Jules Verne. Translated by W. H. G. Kingston. Numerous 
Illustrations. Sq. cr. 8vo, gilt edges, 'js. 6d. ; cl., plain edges, 5j". 

ChiWs Play, with 16 Coloured Drawings by E. V. B. Printed 

on thick paper, with tints, is. 6d. 

New, By E. V. B. Similar to the above. See New. 

Children's Lives and How to Preserve Them ; or, The Nursery 
Handbook. By W. Lomas, M.D. Crown 8vo, cloth, 5^-. 

Choice Editions of Choice Books, 2s, 6d. each, Illustrated by 
C. W. Cope, R.A., T. Creswick, R.A., E. Duncan, Birket 
Foster, J. C. Horsley, A.R.A., G. Hicks, R.Redgrave, R.A., 
C. Stonehouse, F. Tayler, G. Thomas, H. J. Townshend. 
E. H. Wehnert, Harrison Weir, &c 



Milton's L'Allegro. 
Poetry of Nature. Harrison Weir. 
Rogers* (Sam. ) Pleasures of Memory. 
Shakespeare's Songs and Sonnets. 
Tennyson's May Queen. 
Elizabethan Poets. 
Wordsworth's Pastoral Poems. 



Bloomfield's Farmer's Boy. 

Campbell's Pleasures of Hope. 

Coleridge's Ancient Mariner. 

Goldsmith's Deserted Village. 

Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield. 

Gray's Elegy in a Churchyard. 

Keat's Eve of St. Agnes. 

** Such works are a glorious beatification for a poet." — A ikenantn. 

Cohbett (Williain), A Biography. By Edward Smith. 2 

vols., crown 8vo, 25^. 

Continental Tour of Eight Days for Forty-four Shillings, By 
a Journey-man. i2mo, ix. 

•* The book is simply delightful.'* — Spectator. 

Covert Side Sketches: TJwughts on Hunting, with Different 
Packs in Different Countries. By J. Nevitt Fitt (H.H.of the Sporting 
Gazette, late of the Field). 2nd Edition. Cro^Ti 8vo, cloth, lar. 6d. 

Cripps the Carrier. 3rd Edition, ds. See Blackmore. 

Cruise of H,M,S, *' Challenger'' (The), By W. J. J. Spry, R.N. 
With Route Map and many Illustrations. 6th Edition, demy 8vo, cloth, 
i8x. Cheap Edition, crown 8vo, small type, some of the Illustrations, 
7x. dd. 

Curious Adventures of a Field Cricket, By Dr. Ernest 
CandP:ze. Translated by N. D'Anvers. With numerous fine 
Illustrations. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, gilt edges, is, 6d. 



Sampson Low, Marston, 6- Go's 



ryANA (R, If.) Two Years before th€ Mast and Twenty-Four 
•^ years After. Revised Edition with Notes, i2mo, 6j. 

Daughter (A) of Heth. By W. Black, Crown 8vo, 6x. 

Day of My Life {A) ; or, Every Day Experiences at Eton. 
By an Eton Boy, Author of "About Some Fellows." i6mo, cloth 
extra, 2j. 6</. 6th Thousand. 

Day out of the Life of a Little Maiden (A) : Six Studies from 
Life. By Sherer and Engler. Large 4to, in portfolio, 5^-. 

Diane. By Mrs. Macquoid. Crown 8vo, 6s. 

Dick Sands, the Boy Captain. By Jules Verne. With 

nearly loo Illustrations, cloth extra, gilt edges, xos. 6d. 

Discoveries of Prince Henry the Navigator, and their Results ; 
being the Narrative of the Discovery by Sea, withm One Century, of 
more than Half the World. By Richard Henry Major, F.S.A. 
Demy 8vo, with several Woodcuts, 4 Maps, and a Portrait of Prince 
Henry in Colours. Cloth extra, 1 51'. 

Dodge {Mrs. M.) Hans Brinker; or, the Silver Skates. An 
entirely New Edition, with 59 Full-page and other Woodcuts. 
Square crown 8vo, cloth extra, ^s. 6d, ; Text only, paper, is. 

Dogs of Assize. A Legal Sketch-Book in Black and White. 
Containing 6 Drawings by Walter J. Allen. Folio, in wrapper, dr. &/. 

DougalVs {/. D.) Shooting; which see. 10s. 6d. 

PAELY History of the Colony of Victoria {The), from its 
•^-^ Discovery. By F.JP. Labilhere. 2 vols., crown 8 vo, 21 j. 

Echoes of the Heart. See Moody. 

Eight Cousins. See Alcott. 

Eldmuir: An Art-Story of Scottish Home-Life, Scetury, and 
Incident. By JACOB THOMPSON, Jun. Illustrated with Engravings 
after Paintings of Jacob Thompson. With an Introductory Notice 
by Llewellynn Jewitt, F.S.A., &c Demy 8vo, cloth extra, 14J. 

Elinor Dry den. By Mrs. Macquoid. Crown 8vo, ds. 

Embroidery {Handbook of). By L. Higgin. Edited by Lady 
Marian Alford, and published by authority of the Royal School of 
Art Needlework, and dedicated to their President, H.R.H. Princess 
Christian, of Schleswig-Holstein, Princess of Great Britain and 
Ireland. With 16 page Illustrations, many of them in Colour, by 
Burne Jones, Walter Crane, William Morris, George 
AiTCHisoN, Fairfax Wade, the Rev. Selwyn Image, and Miss 
Jekvll ; and Designs for Borders, &c., by Miss Webster, Miss 
Burnside, and Miss Mary Herbert, of the Royal School- of Art 
Needlework. Crown 8vo, $s. 



List of Publications. 



English Catalogue of Books {The). Published during 1863 to 
1 87 1 inclusivei comprising also important American Publications. 3cxr. 
%* Of the previous Volume, 1835 to 1862, very few remain on 
sale ; as also of the Index Volume, 1837 to 1857. 

Supplements, 1863, 1864, 1865, 3^. 6d, each; 1866, 

1867, to 1879, $s. each. 

English Writers, Chapters for Self-Improvement in English 
Literature. By the Author of "The Gentle Life," dr. ; smaller 
edition, 2s, 6d, 

ErcJwtnenon ; or, The Republic of Materialism, Small post 
8vo, cloth. 

Eton. See " Day of my Life," " Out of School," " About Some 
Fellows. '» 

Evans (C) Over the Hills and Far Away, By C. Evans. 
One Volume, crown 8vo, doth extra, lar. 6^. 

A Strange Friendship, Crown 8vo, cloth, 5^. 

rpAITJI Gartney's Girlhood, By the Author of "The 
•^ Gayworthy*s.'* Fcap. with Coloured Frontispiece, y, 6d, 

Family Prayers for Working Men, By the Author of " Steps 
to the Throne of Grace." With an Introduction by the Rev. E. H. 
BiCKERSTETH, M.A. Cloth, IS, ; sewed, 6flf. 

Fern Paradise ( The): A Plea for the Culture of Ferns, By F. G. 
Heath. New Edition, entirely Rewritten, Illustrated with Eighteen 
full-page, numerous other Woodcuts, and Four Photographs, large 
post 8vo, I2J-. dd. In 12 Parts, sewn, is, each. 

Fern World {The), By F. G. Heath. Illustrated by Twelve 

Coloured Plates, giving complete Figures (Sixty-four in all) of every 
Species of British Fern, printed from Nature ; by several full-page 
Engravings. Cloth, gilt, 6th Edition, 12s. 6d, In 12 parts, is, each. 

Few {A) Hints on Proving Wills, Enlarged Edition, is. 

First Steps in Conversational French Grammar, By F. Julien. 
Being an Introduction to "Petites Le9ons de Conversation et de 
Grammaire," by the same Author. Fcap. 8vo, 128 pp., is. 

Flooding of tJie Sahara {The), See Mackenzie. 

Food for the People ; or. Lentils and other Vegetable Cookery, 
By E. E. Orlebar. Third Thousand. Small post 8vo, boards, is. 

Footsteps of the Master, See Stowe (Mrs. Beecher). 

Four Lectures on Electric Induction, Delivered at the Royal 
Institution, 1878-9. By J. E. H. Gordon, B.A. Cantab. With 
numerous Illustrations. Cloth limp, square i6mo, 3^. 



TO Sampson Low^ Marston, &* Co.'s 

Foreign Countries and the British Colonies, Edited by F. S. 

Pulling, M.A., Lecturer at Queen's College, Oxford, and formerly 
Professor at the Yorkshire College, Leeds. A Series of small Volumes 
descriptive of the principal Countries of the World by well-known 
Authors, each Country being treated of by a Writer who from 
Personal Knowledge is qualified to speak with authority on the Subject. 
The Volumes will average i8o crown 8vo pages, will contain Maps, 
and, in some cases, a few typical Illustrations. 

HEA.DINGS OF SECTIONS. 

General Description, Position, &c. ; Physical Geography and Geology, 
Climate ; Fauna and Flora ; Detailed Description, Provinces, Towns, 
&c. ; Ethnology, Language ; National Characteristics ; Government, 
Institutions, Political Life ; Military Organization, &c ; Religion ; 
Agriculture and Commerce ; Resources and Industries ; Communica- 
tions Internal and External ; Literature and the Arts ; Social Life ; 
History (but only in as far as is absolutely necessary to explain the 
Present Condition of the Country. 

Tlie following Volumes are in preparation : — 



Denmark and Iceland. 
Greece. 
Switzerland. 
Austria. 



Canada. 
Sweden and Norway. 
The West Indies. 
New Zealand. 



Russia. 
Persia. 
Japan. 
Peru. 

Franc {Maude Jeane). The following form one Series, small 

post 8vo, in uniform cloth bindings : — 

— Emily's Choice, 55. 

HalVs Vineyard. 4?. 

JohtCs Wife : a Story of Life in South Australia. 45. 



- Marian ; or, the Light of Some Ofiis Home, 55. 

— Silken Cords and Iron Fetters, 45. 

- Vermont Vale, ^s, 

— Minnies Mission, ^s. 
Little Mercy, ^s. 



Froissart {The Boy's), Selected from the Chronicles of Eng- 
land, France, Spain, &c. By Sidney Lanier. The Volume vjrill 
be fully Illustrated. Crown 8vo, cloth, *]s, 6d. 

Friswell {/, If,) Our Square Circle, 2 vols., crown 8vo, cloth, 
21J. 

*** Tliis work, announced two or three years ago, but withdrawn 
in consequence of the late Mr. J. Hain Friswell's long illness and 
death, has now been prepared for the press by his daughter. Miss 
Laura Friswell. 

Funny Foreigners and Eccentric Englishmen. 16 coloured 
comic Illustrations for Children. Fcap. folio, coloured wrapper, 4J. 

r^AMES of Patience, See Cadogan. 

Gentle Life (Queen Edition). 2 vols, in i, small 4to, 105. dd. 



List of Pttblications. 1 1 



THE GENTLE LIFE SERIES. 

Price 6s, each ; or in calf extra, price lor. 6</. ; Smaller Edition, cloth 

extra, 2s, 6d. 

A Reprint of these Volumes (with the exception of " Familiar Words ") 

has been issued in very neat limp cloth bindings at 2s. 6d. each. 

TTie Gentle Life, Essays in aid of the Formation of Character 
of Gentlemen and Gentlewor&en. 21st Edition. 

" Deserves to be printed in letters of gold, and circulated in every house." — 
Chambers' youmai- 

About in the World. Essays by Author of " The Gentle Life." 

" It is not easy to open it at any page without finding some handy idea."— J/<;r»- 
ii^ Post. 

Like unto Christ, A New Translation of Thomas ^ Kempis' 

" De Imitatione ChristL '' and Edition. 

" Could not be presented in a more exquisite form, for a more sightly volume was 
never seen." — Illustrated London News. 

Familiar Words, An Index Verborum, or Quotation Hand- 
book. Affording an immediate Reference to Phrases and Sentences 
that have become embedded in the English language. 3rd and 
enlai^ed Edition, dr. 

"The most extensive dictionary of quotation we have met widi." — Notes and 
Queries, 

Essays by Montaigne. Edited and Annotated by the Author 

of "The Gentle Life." With Portrait. 2nd Edition. 

"We should be glad if any words of ours could help to bespeak a large circula- 
don for this hamdsome attractive book." — Illustrated Times, 

The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia. Written by Sir Philip 

Sidney. Edited with Notes by Author of * * The Gentle Life. " ^s. td, 
"All the best things are retained intact in Mr. Friswell's edition." — Examiner. 

The Gentle Life. 2nd Series, 8th Edition. 

" There is not a single thought in the volume that does not contribute in some 
measure to the formation of a true gentleman." — Daily News. 

The Silent Hour: Essays, Original and Selected. By the 

Author of ** The Gentle Life." 3rd Edition. 
"All who possess *The Gentle Life ' should own this volume." — Standard. 

Half Length Portraits, Short Studies of Notable Persons. 
By J. Hain Friswell. Small post 8vo, cloth extra, dr. 

Essays on English Writers, for the Self-improvement of 

Students in English Literature. 

" To all who have neglected to read and stud3r their native literature we would 
certainly suggest the volume before us as a fitting introduction." — Examitter. 

Other Peoples Windows. By J. Hain Friswell. 3rd Edition. 

"The chapters are so lively in themselves, so mineled with shrewd views of 
full of illustrative anecdotes, that the reader cannot fail to be 



human nature, so 
amused." — Morning Post. 



A Man's Thoughts. By J. Hain Friswell. 



12 Sampson Low^ Marsion^ &* Coh 

German Primer, Being an Introduction to First Steps in 

German. By M. T. Preu. 2j. 6^. 
Getting On in the World ; or. Hints on Success in Life. By 

W. Mathews. LL.D. Small post 8vo, cloth, 2x. 6d. ; gilt edges, 3j-. 6d. 
Gilpin's Forest Scenery, Edited by F. G. Heath, i vol., 

large post 8vo, with numerous Illustrations. Uniform with ** The 

Fern World " and ** Our Woodland Txees." I2s. 6d. 

Gordon {J, E, If,). See " Four Lectures on Electric Induc- 
tion," " Physical Treatise on Electricity," &c. 

Goufft. The Royal Cookery Book. By Jules Gouffe ; trans- 
lated and adapted for English use by Alphonse Gouff£, Head 
Pastrycook to her Majesty the Queen. Illustrated with large plates 
printed in colours. loi Woodcuts, 8vo, cloth extra, gilt edges, 2/. 2x. 

Domestic Edition, half-bound, 105. dd. 

** By far the ablest and most complete work on cookery that has ever been suh- 
mittedto the gastronomical world." — Poll Mall Gazette. 

Gouraud {Mdlle.) Four Gold Pieces. Numerous Illustrations. 

Small post Svo, cloth, 2s. 6d, See also Rose Library. 

Government of M. Thiers. By Jules Simon. Translated from 

the French. 2 vols., demy Svo, cloth extra, 32 j. 
Gower (Lord Ronald) Handbook to the Art Galleries^ Public 

and Private, of Belgium and Holland. i8mo, cloth, 5^. 

The Castle Howard Portraits. 2 vols., folio, cl. extra, 61, 6s. 

Greek Grammar. See Waller. 

Guizofs History of France. Translated by Robert Black. 

Super-royal 8v6, very numerous Full-page and other Illustrations. In. 
5 vols., cloth extra, gilt, each 24J. 

" It supplies a want which has long been felt, and ought to be in the hands of all 
students ofhistory." — Times, 

"Three-fourths of M. Guizot*s great work are now completed, and the 'History 
of France/ which was so nobly planned, has been hitherto no less admirably exe- 
cuted." — From long ReTfiew of Vol. HI, in the Times. 

" M. Guizot's main merit is this, that, in a style at once clear and vigorous, he 
sketches the essential and most characteristic features of the times and persona|;es 
described, and seizes upon every salient point which can best illustrate and bnng^ 
out to view what is most significant and instructive in the spirit of the age described. 
— Evening Standard^ Sept. 33, Z874. 

MassorHs School Edition. The 

History' of P'rance from the Earliest Times to the Outbreak of the 
Revolution; abridged from the Translation by Robert Black, M.A., 
with Chronological Index, Historical and Genealogical Tables, &c. 
By Professor Gustave Masson, B. A., Assistant Master at Harrow- 
School. With 24 full-page Portraits, and many other Illustrations. 
I vol., demy 8vo, 600 pp., cloth extra, icxr. 6d. 

History of England. In 3 vols, of about 5 00 pp. each, con- 
taining 60 to 70 Full-page and other Illustrations, cL extra, gilt, 24J-.each. 

" For luxury of tvpography, plainness of print, and beauty of illustration^ these 
volumes, of which but one has as yet appeared in English, will hold their own 
against any production of an age so luxurious as our own m everything, typography 
not excepted." — Times. 



List of Publications. 1 3 



Guillemin, See " World of Comets." 

Guyon (Mde.) Life. By Upham. 6th Edition, crown 8vo, 6x. 

ZJANDBOOK to the Chanties of London. See Low's. 

of Embroidery ; which see, 

to the Principal Schools of England. See PracticaL 



Half 'Hours of Blind Man*s Holiday ; or^ Summer and Winter 

Sketches in Black & White. By W. W. Fenn. 2 vols., cr. 8vo, 241. 
Half-Length Portraits. Short Studies of Notable Persons. 

By J. Hain Friswell. Small post 8vo, dr. ; Smaller Edition, 2s. 6(1. 
Hall{W. W.) How to Live Long; or, 1408 Health Maxims^ 

Physical, Mental, and Moral By W. W. Hall, A.M., M.D. 

Small post 8vo, cloth, 2^. Second Edition. 

Hans Brinker; or, the Silver Skates. See Dodge. 

Happy Valley {The) : Sketches of Kashmir and the Kashmiris. 

By W. Wakefield, M.D. With Map and Illustrations. Demy 8vo, 

doth, ly. 

Heart of Africa. Three Years' Travels and Adventures in the 
Unexplored Regions of Central Africa, from 1868 to 1871. By Dr. 
Georg Schweinfurth. Nmnerous Illustrations, and lai^ Map. 
2 vols., crown 8vo, cloth, 15J. 

Heath (P. G.). See " Fern World," " Fern Paradise," " Our 
Woodland Trees," "Trees and Ferns;" "Gilpin's Forest Scenery," 
"Bumham Beedies," &c. 

Heher^s (Bishop) Illustrated Edition of Hymns. With upwards 
of 100 beautiful Engravings. Small 4to, handsomely bound, *is. dd. 
Morocco, 18^. 6^. and2ij. An entirely New Edition. 

Hector Servadcu:. SeeYERSE, 10s. 6d, 

Heir of Kilfinnan {The). New Story by W. H. G. Kingston, 

Author of " Snoe Shoes and Canoes," " With Axe and Rifle," &c. 
With Illustrations. Cloth, gilt edges, *js. td. 

Henderson {A.) Latin Proverbs and Quotations; with Transla- 
tions and Parallel Passages, and a copious English Index. By Alfred 
Henderson. Fcap. 4to, 530 pp., lor. 6^. 

History and Handbook of Photography. Translated from the 
French of Qaston Tissandier. Edited by J. Thomson. Imperial 
i6mo, over 300 pages, 70 Woodcuts, and Specimens of Prints by the 
best Permanent Processes. Second Edition, with an Appendix by 
the late Mr. Henry Fox Talbot. Cloth extra, 6j. 

History of a Crime {The) ; Deposition of an Eye-witness. By 
Victor Hugo. 4 vols., crown 8vo^ 42^. Cheap Edition, z vol., dr. 

— — England. See Guizot. 

— Prance. See Guizot. 



14 Sampson Low, Marsion, dr* Co,^s 

History of Russia. See Rambaud. 

— — Merchant Shipping, See Lindsay. 

United States, See Bryant. 

— Ireland, By Standish O'Grady. Vol. I. ready, 7x. 6//. 
American Literature, By M. C. Tyler. Vols. I. 



and II., 2 vols, 8vo, 24^. 

History and Principles of Weaving by Hand and by Power. With 
several hundred Illustrations. By Alfred Barlow. Royal 8vo, 
cloth extra, i/. ^s. Second Edition. 

Hitherto, By the Author of" The Gayworthys." New Edition, 
cloth extra, 3^. (id. Also, in Rose Library, 2 vols., 2J. 

Hofmann {Cart), A Practical Treatise on tJie Manufacture of 
Paper in all its Branches. Illustrated by no Wood Engravings, and 5 
large Folding Plates. In i voL, 4to, cloth ; about 400 pp., 3/. 13J. 6</. 

Home of the Eddas, By C. G. Lock. Demy 8vo, cloth, i6j. 

How to Live Lang. See Hall. 

Hugo ( Victor) ^^ Ninety-TJiree'^ Illustrated. Crown 8vo, 6^. 

Toilers of the Sea, Crown 8vo. Illustrated, 6j. ; fancy 

boards, 2x. ; cloth, 2j. td, ; On large paper with all the original 

Illustrations, \os, 6</. 

See " History of a Crime." 



Hundred Greatest Men {The). 8 vols., containing 15 to 20 

Portraits each, 2ij. each. See below. 

"Messrs. Sampson Low & Co. are about to issue an important 'International* 
work, entitled, 'THE HUNDRED GREATEST MEN:' being the Lives and 
Portraits of the zoo Greatest Men of Historv, divided into Eieht Classes, each Class 
to form a Monthl]^ Quarto Volume. The Introductions to the volumes are to be 
written by recognized authorities on the different subjects, the English contributors 
being Dean Stanley, Mr. Matthew Arnold, Mr. Froudk, and Professor Max 
Mt^LLRR: in Germany, Professor HelmhoLTz; in France, MM. Tainb and 
Renan ; and in America, Mr. Emrrson. The Portraits are to be ReproductioBs 
from fine and rare Steel Engravings." — Academy, 

Hygiene and Public Health {A Treatise on). Edited by A. H. 

Buck, M.D. Illustrated by numerous Wood Engravings. In 2 

royal 8vo vok., cloth, one guinea each. 
Hymnal Companion to Book of Common Prayer, See 

BiCKERSTETH. 

ILLUSTRATED Text-Books of Art-Education. A Series 
•*■ of Montlily Volumes preparing for publication. Edited by Edward 
J. POYNTBR, R. A., Director for Art, Science and Art Department 

The first Volumes^ large crown Sva, clothy 3^. (id, eachy will be issued in the 
follcwing divisions, the two first in December: — 

PAINTING. 

Classic and Italian. I French and Spanish. 

German, Flemish, and Dutch. | Eng^lish and American. 



List of Publications. 15 



ARCHITECTURE. 

Classic and Early Christian. | Qothio, Benaissance, & ICodem. 

SCULPTURE. 

Classic and Oriental. | Benaissance and Modem. 

ORNAMENT. 

Decoration in Colour. | ArcMteotnral Omaskent* 

Illustrations of China and its People, By J. Thompson, 
F.R.G.S. Four Volumes, imperial 4to, each 3/. 3J. 

/;/ my Indian Garden, By Phil Robinson. With a Preface 
by Edwin A rnold, M . A. , C. S. I. , &c Crown 8 vo, limp cloth, y. 6d, 

Involuntary Voyage (An), Showing how a Frenchman who 
abhorred the Sea was most unwillingly and by a series of accidents 
driven round the World. Numerots Illustrations. Square crown 
Svo, cloth extra, yx. (>d. 

Irish Bar. Comprising Anecdotes, Bon-Mots, and Bio- 
graphical Sketches of the Bench and Bar of Ireland. By J. Roderick 
O'Flanagan, Barrister-at-Law. Crown Svo, 12s, Second Edition. 

<>fACQUEMART {A.) History of the Ceramic Art: De- 
^ scriptive and Analytical Study of the Potteries of all Times and of 
all Nations. By Albert Jacquemart. 200 Woodcuts by H. 
Catenacci and J. Jacquemart. 12 Steel-plate Engravings, and looo 
Marks and Monograms. Translated by Mrs. Bury Palliser. In 
I vol., super-royal Svo, of about 700 pp., cloth extra, gilt edges, 2&r. 

Jimmy's Cruise in the Pinafore* See Alcott. 
J^AFIRLAND : A Ten Months Campaign. By Frank N. 

■^ *• StreatfielDj Resident Magistrate in Kaifraria, and Commandant 
of Native Levies during the Kaffir War of 1878. Crown Svo, cloth 
extra, 7^. dd. 

Keble Autograph Birthday Book {The). Containing on each left- 
hand pace the date and a selected verse from Keble's hymns. 
Imperial Svo, with 12 Floral Chromos, ornamental bmding, gilt edges, 

15^- 
Khedives Egypt {The); or, The old House of Bondage under 
New Masters. By Edwin de Leon. Illustrated. Demy Svo, cloth 
extra. Third Edition, i8f. Cheap Edition, Sj. 6d. 

Kin^s Rifle (The): From the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean; 
Across Unknown Countries ; Discovery of the Great Zambesi Affluents, 
&c. By Major Serpa Pinto. With 24 full-page and about lOO 
half-page and smaller Illustrations, 13 small Ma|>s, and i large one. 
I vol., demy Svo. 



1 6 Sampson Low^ Marsion^ or* Co.^s 

Kingston {W. H. G.). See " Snow-Shoes." 
' Child of the Cavern. 

■ 7^^ Supercargoes. 

■■ ^//A -4^^ J«5 ^^<^. 

■ BegunCs Fortune. 
— — — Zr«> of Kilfinnan. 

Koldewey {Capt,) The Second North German Polar Expedition 
in the Year 1869-70. Edited and condensed by H. W. Bates. 
Numerous Woodcuts, Maps, and Chromo-lithographs. Royal Svo, 
cloth extra, i/. 15^. 



L 



ADY Silverdal^s Sweetheart. 6s. See Black. 



Land of Bolivar {The) ; or, War, Peace, and Adventure in the 

Republic of Venezuela. By J. M. S pence, F.R.G.S. 2 vols., demy 
8vo, with numerous Woodcuts and Maps, 31J. 6d. Second Edition. 
Latidseer Gallery {The). Containing thirty-six Autotype Re- 
productions of Engravings from the most important early works of Sir 
Edwin Landseer, With a Memoir of the Artist's Life, and 
Descriptions of the Plates. Imperial 4to, cloth, gilt edges, 2/. 2s. 

Lenten Meditations, In Two Series, each complete in itself. 
By the Rev. Claude Bosanquet, Author of "Blossoms from the 
ling's Garden." i6mo, cloth, First Series, is.dd, \ Second Series, zs. 

Lentils. See " Food for the People." 

Idesegang {Dr. Paul E.) A Manual of the Carbon Process of 
Photography. Demy Svo, half-bound, with Illustrations, 4;. 

Life and Letters of the Honourable Charles Sumner {The). 
2 vols., royal Svo, cloth. The Letters give full description of London 
Society — Lawyers—Judges — ^Visits to Lords Fitzwilliam, Leicester, 
Whaxncliffe, Brougnam — Association with Sydney Smith, Hallam, 
Macaulay, Dean Milman, Rogers, and Talfourd ; also, a full Journal 
which Sumner kept in Paris. Second Edition, sdf. 

Lindsay {W, S.) History of Merchant Shipping and Ancient 
Commerce. Over 150 Illustrations, Maps and Charts. In 4 vols., 
demy Svo, cloth extra. Vols. I and 2, 21s. ; vols. 3 and 4, 24f. each. 

Lion Jack: a Story of Perilous Adventures amongst Wild Men 
and Beasts. Showing how Menageries are made. By P. T. Barnum. 
With Illustrations. Crown Svo, cloth extra, price 6j. 

Little King; or, the Taming of a Young Russian Count. By 
S. Blandy. 64 Illustrations. Crown Svo, gilt, 7^*. dd. 

Little Mercy ; or. For Better for Worse. By Maude Jeanne 
Franc, Author of "Marian," "Vermont Vale," &c., &c. Small 
post Svo, cloth extra, 41. Second Edition. 



List of Publications. 1 7 



Lo7ig {Col, C, Chaille) Central Africa, Naked Truths of 
Naked People : an Account of Expeditions to Lake Victoria Nyanza 
and the Mabraka Niam-Niam. Demy 8vo, numerous Illustrations, iSx. 

Lost Sir Massingberd, New Edition, crown 80, boards, coloured 
wrapper, is, 

Lcntfs Gertnan Series — 

1. The lUostrated GermaA Primer. Being the easiest introduction 

to the study of German for all beginners, is, 

2. The Children's own German Book. A Selection of Amusing 

and Instructive Stories in Prose. Edited by Dr. A. L. Meissnek. 
Small post 8vo, cloth, is, 6d, 

3. The First German Header, for Children from. Ten to 

Fourteen. Edited by Dr. A. L. Meissner. Small post Svo, 
cloth, is, 6d, 

4. The Second German Header. Edited by Dr. A. L. Meissner. 

Small post 8vo, cloth, is, (xi, 

Buchhein^s Deutsche Prosa, Two Volumes^ sold separately i — 

5. Schiller's Prosa. Containing Selections from the Prose Works 

of Schiller, with Notes for Engli^ Students. By Dr. Buchheim^ 
Small post 8vo, is, 6d, 

6. Goethe's Prosa. Selections from the Prose Works of Goethe, 

with Notes for English Students. By Dr. Buchheim. Small 
post 8vo, 3J. 6d, 

Jjnv^s International Series of Toy Books, 6d, each; or 
Mounted on Linen, is, 

1. Idttle Pred and his Piddle, from Asbjomsen's ''Norwegian 

Fairy Tales." 

2. The I<ad and the North Wind, ditto. 

3. The Pancake, ditto. 

{The Series will be continued.) 

I/m/s Standard Library of Travel and Adventure, Crown Svo, 
bound uniformly in cloth extra, price Ts, 6d. 

1. The Great Lone Land. By W. F. Butler, C.B. 

2. The Wild North Land. By W. F. Butler, C.B. 

3. How I found Livinflrstone. By H. M. Stanley. 

4. The Threshold of the Unknown Beg-ion. By C. R. Mark- 

HAM. (4th Edition, with Additional Chapters, los, 6d.) 

5. A Whalinff Cruise to Baffin's Bay and the Gulf of Boothia. 

By A. H. Markham. 



1 8 Sampson Low^ Mars ton, 6* CoJs 

Low's Standard Library of Travel and Advmturey contintud: — 

6. Oampaiffnlnff on the Oxus. By J. A. MacGahan. 

7. Akizn-fop: the History of a Failure. By Major W. F. 

Butler, C.B. 

8. Ooean to Ocean. By the Rev. George M. Grant. With 

Illustrations. 

9. Cruise of the Ohallenffer. By W. J. J. Spry, R.N. 

xo. Sohweinforth'e Heart of Africa. 2 vols., 15^. 

II. Through 'the Dark Continent. By H. M. Stanley, i vol., 
1 2 J. 6</. 

Louh Standard Novels, Crown 8vo, 6 j. each, clotli extra. 

Three Peathers. By William Black. 

A Daughter of Heth. 13th Edition. By W. Black. With 

Frontispiece by F. Walker, A.R.A. 
Xilmeny. A Novel. By W. Black. 
In Silk Attire. By W. Black. 
Lady Silverdale^e Sweetheart. By W. Black. 
Alice Lorraine. By R. D. Blackmore. 
Loma Doone. By R. D. Blackmore. 8th Edition. 
Cradock NowelL By R. D. Blackmore. 
Clara Vauffhan. By R. D. Blackmore. 
Cripps the Carrier. By R. D. Blackmore. 
Innocent. By Mrs. Oliphakt. Eight Illustrations. 

Work. A Story of Experience. By LouiSA M. Alcott. Illustra- 
tions. See also Rose Library. 

A French Heiress in her own Chateau. By the author of '' One 
Only," ** Constantia," &c Six Illustrations. 

Ninety-Three. By Victor Hugo. Numerous Illustrations. 
2Iy Wife and I. By Mrs. Beecher Stowe. 
Wreck of the Gbrosvenor. By W. Clark Russelu 
Elinor Dryden. By Mrs. Macquoid. 
Diane. By Mrs. Macquoid. 

Poflranuc People, Their Loves and Lives, By Mrs. Beecher 
Stowe. 

Lows Handbook to the Charities of London for 1879. Edited 
and revised to Julv, 1879, by C. Mackeson, F.S.S., Editor of 
'* A Guide to the Churches of London and its Suburbs,'* &c. u. 

"h/fACGAHAN {/'A,) Campaigning on the Oxus, and the 
^ ^ Fall of Khiva. With Map and numerous Illustrations, 4th Edition, 
small post 8vo, cloth extra, p, 6d. 



List of Publications, 19 



Macgregor {John) ^^ Rob jRcy^* on the Baltic. 3rd Edition, 

small post 8vo, zs, (yd, 

A Thousand Miles in the ^^ Rob Roy'^ Canoe, nth 

Edition, small post 8vo, 2x. (id, 

Description of the ^^Rob Roy" Canoe, with Plans, &c., is. 

The Voyage Alone in the Yawl ^^ Rob Roy J* New 



Edition, thoroughly revised, with additions, small post 8vo, y, 

Mackenzie (Z>), The Flooding of the Sahara, An Account of 
the Project for opening direct communication with 38,000,000 people. 
With a Description of North- West Africa and Soudan. By Donald 
Mackenzie. Syo, cloth extra, with Illustrations, ioj*. dd, 

Macquoid {Mrs.) Elinor Dryden. Crown 8vo, cloth, ds. 

Diane, Crown 8vo, ds. 

Marked Life {Al) ; or. The Autobiography of a Clairvoyante, 
By * * Gipsy. '• Post 8vb, ^s, 

Markham {A. H,) The Cruise of the ''Rosario:* By A. H. 
Markham, R.N. 8vo, cloth extra, with Map and Illustrations. 

A Whaling Cruise to Baffin* s Bay and the Gulf of 

Boothia. 3rd and Cheaper Edition, crown 8vo, 2 Maps and several 
Illustrations, doth extra, 7^ . 6d. 

Markham {C. R.) The Threshold of the Unknown Region. 
Crown 8vo, with Four Maps, 4th E^tion. Cloth extra, loj. (id, 

Maury {Commander) Physical Geography of the Sea, and its 

Meteorology. Being a Reconstruction and Enlargement of his former 
Work, with Charts and Diagrams. New Edition, crown 8vo, 6^". 

Memoirs of Madame de Remusat, 1802 — 1808. By her Grand- 
son, M. Paul de Remusat, Senator. Translated by Mrs. Cashel 
HoEY and and Mr. John Lillie. 2 vols., demy 8vo, cloth extra. 
This work was written by Madame de Remusat during the time she 
was living on the most intimate terms with the Empress Josephine, 
and is full of revelations respecting the private life of Bonaparte, and 
of men and politics of the first years of the century. Revelations 
which have already created a great sensation in Paris. Demy 8vo, 2 vols. 

Men of Mark: a Gallery of Contemporary Portraits of the most 
Eminent Men of the Day taken from Life, especially for this publica- 
tion, price u, dd, monthly. Vols. I., II., and III. handsomely bound, 
cloth, gilt edges, 25X. each. 

Michael Strogoff. los. 6d. and 5^, See Verne. 

Michie {Sir A,, K.CM.G^ See " Readings in Melbourne." 

Mitford {Miss). See « Our Village." 



20 Sampson Low, Marston, 6r» Co^s 



^^ 



Montaign^s Essays, See " Gentle Life Series.' 

Moody {Emma) Echoes of the Heart. A Collection of upwards 
of 200 Sacred Poems. z6ino, cloth, gilt edges, 3^. 6^. 

My Brother Jack; or. The Story of Whatiyecallem. Written 
by Himselfl From the French of Alphonse Daudet. Illustrated 
by P. Philippoteaux. Square imperial i6mo, cloth extra, 7^. 6^. 

My Rambles in the New World, By Lucien Biart, Author of 

** The Adventures of a Young Naturalist." Crown 8vo, cloth extra. 
Numerous full-page Illustrations, *is, 6d, 

Mysterious Island. By Jules Verne. 3 vols., imperial T6mo. 

150 Illustrations, doth gilt, 3x. 6d. each; elaboratly bound, gilt 
edges, 7^. 6d, each. 



ATARES {Sir G. S.y K.C.B) Narrative of a Voyage to the 

-^ ^ Polar Sea during 1875-76, in H.M.'s Ships "Alert" and " Discovery." 
By Captain Sir G. S. Nares, R. N. , K. C. B. , F. R.S. Published by per- 
mission of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. With Notes on 
the Natural History, edited by H. W. Feilden, F.G.S., C.M.Z.S., 
F.R.G.S., Naturalist to the Expedition. Two Volumes, demySvo, with 
numerous Woodcut Illustrations, Photographs, &c. 4th Edition, 2/. 2j. 

National Music of the World By the late Henry F. Chor- 
LEY. Edited by H. G. Hewlett, Author of "Memoir of H. F. 
Chorley." I voL, crown Svo, cloth. 



" What I have to offer are not a few impressions, scrambled together in the haste 
of the moment, but are the result of many years of comparison and experience." — 
Ffom th^Authot's "Prelude." 

New Child's Flay {A), Sixteen Drawings by E. V. B. Beauti- 
fully printed in colours, 4to, cloth extra, 12s. 6d, 

New Guinea {A Few Months in). By Octavius C. Stone, 

F.R.G.S. With numerous Illustrations from the Author's own 
Drawings. Crown Svo, cloth, 12s, 

*#* Lentil the Author's own visit, no English explorer, except 
Wallace, had resided in that terra incognita, although it had been 
discovered 350 years before. 

New Ireland. By A. M. Sullivan, M.P. for Louth. 2 vols., 
demy Svo, 3Qf. Cheaper Edition, I vol., crown Svo, 8j. 6d. 

Noble Words and Noble Deeds. Translated from the French of 
E. Muller, by Dora Leigh. Containing many Full-page Illustra- 
tions by Philippoteaux. Square imperial i6mo, cloth extra, fs. 6d. 

" This is a book which will c[elig:ht the yovtng. . . • We cannot imagine a nicer 
present than this book for children." — Standard. 
** Is certain to become a favourite with young people." — Court yourtiaL 



List of Publications, 2 1 



North American Review {The). Monthly, price 2s, 6d. 

Notes on Fish and Fishing, By the Rev. J. J. Manley, M.A. 
With Illustrations, crown 8vo, doth extra, leatherette binding, lOf. 6d. 

Novels, Crown 8vo, cloth, los, 6d. per vol. : — 

Mary Anerley. By R. D. Blackmore, Author of " Loma Doone," 
&c. 3 vols. [In the press. 

All the World's a Staff e. By M. A. M. Hoppus, Author of ** Five 
Chimnney Farm." 3 vols. 

Cressida. By M. B. Thomas. 3 vols. 

A Woman of Mind. 3 vols. 

The Cossacks. By Count Tolstoy. Translated from the Russian 
by Eugene Schuyler, Author of ** Turkistan.*' 2 vols. 

A Stroke of an Afghan Knife. By R. A Sterndale, F.R.G.S., 
Author of ** Seonee.'* 3 vols. 

The Braes of Yarrow. By C. Gibbon. 3 vols. 

Anld LansT Syne. By the Author of * * The Wreck of the Grosvenor. " 
2 vols. 

On the Wolds. By the Rev. E. Gilliat, Author of "Asylum 

Christi.'* 2 vols. 
In a Bash Moment. By Jessie McLaren. 2 vols. 
Old Charlton. By Baden Pritchard. 3 vols. 
Onr Sanare Circle. By the late J. D. Friswell. 2 vols. 

Nursery Playmates {Prince of ), 217 Coloured pictures for 
Children by eminent Artists. Folio, in coloured boards, dr. 

OCEAN to Ocean : Sandford Flemings Expedition through 
Canada in 1872. By the Rev. George M. Grant. With Illustra- 
tions. Revised and enlarged Edition, crown 8vo, cloth, 7^. 6^. 

Old^Fashiotied Girl, See Alcott. 

Oliphant {Mrs.) Innocent, A Tale of Modem Life. By Mrs 

Oliphant, Author of ** The Chronicles of Carlingford," &c., &c. 
With Eight Full-page Illustrations, small post 8vo, cloth extra, dr. 

On Horseback through Asia Minor, By Capt. Fred Burnaby, 
Royal Horse Guards, Author of **A Ride to Khiva." 2 vols., 
8vo, with three Maps and Portrait of Author, 6th Edition, 38r. ; 
Cheaper Edition, crown 8vo, lar. ()d. 

Our Little Ones in Heaven, Edited by the Rev. H. Robbins. 
With Frontispiece after Sir Joshua Reynolds. Fcap., cloth extra. 
New Edition — the 3rd, with Illustrations, 5^. 



29 Sampson LaWy Mantan^ &* Co^s 

Our VtUage, By Mary Russell Mitford. Illustrated with 

Frontispiece Steel Engraving, and X2 full-page and 157 smaller Cuts 
of Figure Subjects and Scenes, from Drawings by W. H. J. Boot and 
C O. Murray. Chiefly from Sketches made by these Artists in the 
neighbourhood of ** Our Village." Crown 4to, cloth, gilt edges, 2.1s. 

Our Woodland Trees, By F. G. Heath. Large post 8vo, 
doth, gilt edges, uniform with "Fern World" and " Fern Paradise," 
by the same Author. 8 Coloured Plates and 20 Woodcuts, I2x. 6</. 

Out of School at Eton, Being a collection of Poetry and Prose 
Writings. By Some Present Etonians. Foolscap 8vo, cloth, 3^^. 6d, 

pAINTERS of All Schools, By Louis Viardot, and other 

•^ Writers. 5cx> pp., super-royal 8vo, 20 Full-page and 70 smaller 
Engravings, cloth extra, 25^. A New Edition is being issued in Half- 
crown parts, with fifty additional portraits, doth, gilt edges, 3IJ. 6d, 

"A handsome volume, full of infonnadon and sound criticism." — Times, 

"Almost an encyclopaedia of painting It may be recommended as a handy 

and el^ant guide to beginners in the study of the history oi9it,**'—Saittrtlay Revirtu. 

Palliser (Mrs,) A History of Lace^ from the Earliest Period, 
A New and Revised Edition, with adcUtional cuts and text, upwards 
of 100 Illustrations and coloured Designs, i voL 8vo, i/. is, 

" One of the most readable books of the season ; permanMitly valuable, always in- 
teresting, ofi<m amusing, and not inferior in all the essentials of a gift book."— >7V««rr. 

■ Historic Devices^ Badges^ and War Cries, 8vo, i/. tx. 

•— — The China Collecto?s Pocket Companion, With up- 
wards of 1000 Illustrations of Marks and Monograms. 2nd Edition, 
with Additions. Small post 8vo, limp cloth, 5x. 

Petites Leqons de Conversation et de Grammaire: Oral and 
Conversational Method ; being Little Lessons introducing the most 
Useful Topics of Daily Conversation, upon an entirely new principle, 
&c. By F. JULIEN, French Master at King Edward the Sixth's 
Grammar School, Birmingham. Author of "The Student's French 
Examiner," ** First Steps in Conversational French Grammar,** which 
see. 

Phillips (Z.) Dictionary of Biographical Reference, 8vo, 
i/. iis,6d. 

Photography {History and Handbook cf). See Tissandier. 

Physical Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism, By J. E. H. 
Gordon, B.A. One volume, demy 8vo', very numerous Illustrations. 
Among the newer portions of the work may be enumerated : All the 
more recent investigations on Striae by Spottiswoode, De la Rue, 
Moulton, &c. An account of Mr. Crooke's recent researches. Full 
descriptions and pictures of all the modern Magnetic Survey Instru- 
ments now used at Kew Observatory. Full accounts of all the modem 






List of Publications, 23 



work on Specific Inductive Capacity. Full accounts of tl^e more 
recent determination of the ratio of Electric units (v). It is believed 
that in respect to the number and beauty of the Illustrations^ the work 
will be quite unique. 

Picture Gallery of British Art {The). 38 Permanent Photo- 
graphs after the most celebrated English Painters. With Descriptive 
Letterpress. Vols, i to 5, cloth extra, i8j. each. VoL 6 for 1S77, 
commencing New Series, demy folio, 31J. 6d, Monthly Farts, is, 6d* 

Pinto {Major Serpa). See " King's Rifle." 

Placita Anglo- Normannica, The Procedure and Constitution of 
the Anglo-Norman Courts (William L — Richard I.), as shown by 
Contemporaneous Records ; all the Reports of the Litigation of the 
period, as recorded in the Chronicles and Histories of the time, being 
gleaned and literally transcribed. With Explanatory Notes, &c. By 
M. M. BiGELOW. Demy 8vo, cloth, 2ij-. 

PlutarcKs Lives, An Entirely New and Library Edition. 

Edited by A. H. Clough, Esq. J vols., 8vo, 2/. lOr.; half-morocco» 
gilt top, 3/. Also in I voL, royal 8vo, 800 pp., cloth extra, i8r.; 
half-bound, 21^. 



Morals. Uniform with Clough's Edition of " Lives of 

Plutarch." Edited by Professor Goodwin. 5 vols., 8vo, 3/. 3r. 

Poe (E, A.) The Works of, 4 vols., 2/. 2s, 

Poems of the Inner Life, A New Edition^ Revised, with, many 
additional Poems. Small post 8vo, cloth, 5j. 

Poganuc People: their Loves and Lives, By Mrs. Beechek 
Stowe. Crown 8vo, cloth, dr. 

Polar Expeditions, See Koldewev, Markham, MacGahan 
and Nares. 

Pottery : how it is MadCy its Shape and Decoration, Practical 
Instructions for Painting on Porcelain and all kinds of Pottery with 
vitrifiable and common Oil Colours. By G. WARD Nichols. 
42 Illustrations, crown 8vo, red edges, dr. 

Practical {A) Handbook to the Principal Schools of England^ 

By C. £. Pascoe. New Edition corrected to 1879, crown 8vo^ 

c;<.'(h extra, 3.'. 6r/. 

"This is an exceedingly useful work, and one that was much wanted."—* 
Examitur.* 

Prejevalsky {N, M) From Kulja^ across the Tian Shan to Lob- 
nor. Translated by £. Delmar Morgan, F.R.G.S. With Notes 
and Introduction by SiR Douglas Forsyth, K.C.S.I* z voL, 
demy 8vo, with a Map. its. 



24 Sampson Low, Marston, ^ CoJs 

Prince. Riito ; or. The Four-leaved Shamrock. By Fanny W. 
CURREY. With 10 Full-page Fac-simile Reproductions of Original 
Drawings by Helen O'Hara. Demy 4to, cloth extra, gilt, loj. 6d, 

Publisher^ Circular (The), and General Record of British and 
Foreign Literature. Published on the ist and 15th of eve^ Month. 

eUARTER Sessions, from Queen Elizabeth to Queen Anne: 
Illustrations of Local Government and History. Drawn fzx^m 
Original Records (chiefly of the County of Devon). By A. H. A. 
Hamilton. Crown 8vo, cloth, ioj. 6^. 

DAMBA UD {Alfred). History of Russia, from its Origin 
•* *" in the Year 1877. With Six Maps. Translated by Mrs. L. B. 
Lang. 2 vols., demy 8vo, cloth extra, 3&r. 

Mr. W. R. S. Ralston, in the Academy^ sacvs, ''We gladly recognize in the 
present volume a trustworthy historv of Russia.*' 

" We will venture to prophecy that it will become M^ work on the subject for 
readers in our part of Europe. . . . Mrs. Lang has done her work remarkably 
yteW*—Athenaeum, 

Readings in Melbourne ; with an Essay on the Resources and 
Prospects of Victoria for the Emigrant and Uneasy Classes. By Sir 
Archibald MiCHiE, Q.C., K.C.M.G., Agent-General for Victoria. 
With Coloured Map of Australia. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, price ^js. 6d. 

Recollections of Writers. By Charles and Mary Cowden 

Clarke. Authors of ** The Concordance to Shakespeare," &c. ; 
•with Letters of Charles Lamb, Leigh Hunt, Douglas Jerrold, 
and Charles Dickens ; and a Preface by Mary Cowden Clarke. 
Crown 8vo, cloth, los. (yd. 

Reminiscences of the War in New Zealand. By Thomas W. 

Gudgeon, Lieutenant and Quartermaster, Colonial Forces, N.Z. 

"With Twelve Portraits. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, lor. dd. 
Remusat (Madame de). See " Memoirs of." 
Robinson (JPhil.). See " In my Indian Garden." 
Rochefoucauld s Reflections. Bayard Series, 2s. 6d. 
Rogers (5.) Pleasures of Memory. See " Choice Editions of 

Choice Books." 2j. dd. 

Rose in Bloom. See Alcott. 

Rose Library (Thi). Popular Literature of all countries. Each 

volume, IS. ; cloth, 2f. td. Many of the Volumes are Illustrated — 
.1. Sea-Ghill Bock. By Jules Sandeau. Illustrated. 

2. liittle Women. By Louisa M. Alcott. 

3. Idlttle Women Wedded. Fonmng a Sequel to * * Little Women. " 

4. The House on Wheels. By Madame de Stolz. Illustrated. 

5. Little Men. By Louisa M. Alcott. DblcvoL, 2j. ; cloth, 3^. 6<^ 



List of Publications, 25 



The Rose Library ^ continued: — 

6. The Old-Fashloned Girl. By Louisa M. Alcott. Doable 

vol., 2x. ; cloth, 3J. 6^. 

7. The 2)Cistre8B of the DCaase. By J. G. Holland. 

8. Timothy Tltooznb's letters to Tonngr People, Single and 

Karried. 

9. TTndiiie, and the Two Captains. By Baron De La Motte 

FouQuA. A New Translation by F. E. Bunnett. Illustrated. 

10. Drazy Miller's DowTy» and the Elder's Wife. By Saxe 

Holm. 

11. The Four Gold Pieces. By Madame Gouraud. Numerous 

Illustrations. 

12. Work. A Story of Experience. First Portion. By Louisa M. 

Alcott. 

13. Beerinniner Affain. Being a Continuation of "Work." By 

Louisa M. Alcott. 

14. Picciola; or, the Prison Flower. By X. B. Saintine. 

Numerous Graphic Illustrations. 

15. Bobert's Holidays. Illustrated. 

16. The Two Children of St. Domingro. Numerous Illustrations. 

17. Aunt Jo's Scrap Bafi:. 

18. Stowe (Mrs. H, B.) The Pearl of Orr's Island. 
19. The Minister's Wooingr. 

20. -^—^ Betty's Briffht Idea. 

21. ■ The Ghost in the Mill. 

22. — Captain Kidd's Money. 

23. — - We and onr Neighbours. Double vol., 2J. 

24. — — My Wife and I. Double vol., 2J. ; cloth, gilt, y, 6d, 

25. Hans Brinker ; or, the Silver Skates. 

26. liOwell's My Study Window. 

27. Holmes (O. W.) The Ghiardian Anfirel. 

28. Warner (C. D.) My Summer in a Garden. 

29. Hitherto. By the Author of " The Gayworthys." 2 vols., u. each. 

30. Helen's Babies. By their Latest Victim. 

31. The Barton Experiment. By the Author of <' Helen's Babies. " 

32. Dred. By Mrs. Beecher Stowe. Double vol., 2j. Cloth, 

gilt, 3J. 6d. 

33. Warner (C. D.) In the Wilderness. 

34. Six to One. A Seaside Story. 

Russell {W. H., LL,D.) The Tour of the Prince of Wales in 
India. By W. H. Russell, LL.D. Fully Illustrated by Sydney 
P. Hall, M.A. Super- royal 8vo, cloth extra, gilt edges, 52J. 6^.; 
Large Paper Edition, 84r. 



26 Sampson Low^ Marstan^ &* Coh 



OAJVCTA Christina: a Story of the First Century, By 
•^ Eleanor E. Orlebar. With a Preface by the Bishop of Winchester. 
Small post 8vo, cloth extra, 5j. 

Scientific Memoirs: being Experimental Contributions to a 
Knowledge of Radiant Energy. By John William Draper, M. D., 
LL.D., Author of "A Treatise on Human Physiology," &c. With 
Steel Portrait of the Author. Demy 8voi, cloth, 473 pages, 14^. 

Scott {Sir G. Gilbert.) 5<ftf " Autobiography.*' 

Sea-Gull Eock. By Juj-es Sandeau, of the French Academy. 

Royal i6mo, with 79 Illustrations, cloth extra, gilt edges, 'js, 6d* 
Cheaper Edition, cloth gilt, 2s. 6d. See also Rose Library. 

Seonee : Sporting in t/ie Satpura Range of Central India, and in 
the Valley of the Nerbudda. By R. A. Sterndale, F.R.G.S. 8vo, 
with numerous Illustrations, 7.15, 

Shakespeare {The Boudoir). Edited by Henry Cundell. 

Carefully bracketted for reading aloud ; freed from all objectionable 
matter, and altogether free from notes. Price 2j. 6</. each volume, 
cloth extra, gilt ^ges. Contents : — Vol I., Cymbeline — Merchant of 
Venice. Each play separately, paper cover, is. Vol. II., As You 
Like It — King Lear — Much Ado about Nothing. Vol. III., Romeo 
and Juliet — Twelfth Night — King John. The latter six plays sepa- 
rately, paper cover, 9^. 

Shakespeare Key {The). Forming a Companion to "The 
Complete Concordance to Shakespeare.'* By Charles and Mary 
CowDEN Clarke. Demy 8vo, 800 pp., 21 j. 

Shooting: its Appliances, Practice, and Purpose. By James 

Dalziel Dougall, F.S.A., F.Z.A. Author of "Scottish Field 

Sports," &c Crown 8vo, cloth extra, loj. dd, 

"The book is admirable in every wsw. .... We wish it every success.** — Globe. 
"A very complete treatise. .... Likely to take high rank as an authority 00 
shooting."-— 27««/y News. 

Silent Hour {The). See " Gentle Life Series." 

Silver Pitchers. See Alcott. 

Simon {^ules). See " Government of-M. Thiers." 

Six to One. A Seaside Story. i6mo, boards, is. 

Sketches from an Artisfs Portfolio. By Sydney P. Hall. 

About 60 Fac-similes of his Sketches during Travels in various parts of 
Europe. Folio, cloth extra, 3/. y. 
"A portfolio which any one might be glad to call their own.**— Times. 

Sleepy Sketches ; or, How we Live, and How we Do Not Live, 

From Bombay, i vol., small post 8vo, cloth, 6x. 

'Well-written and amusing sketches of Indian society.*' — Morning Post. 



•• ' 



List of Publications, 2 7 



Smith (G.) Assyrian Explorations and Discoveries, By the late 
George Smith. Illustrated by Photographs and Woodcuts. Demy 
8vo, 6th Edition, \%s, 

The Chaldean Account of Genesis, By the late 

G. Smith, of the Department of Oriental Antiquities, British Museum. 
With many Illustrations. Demy 8vo, cloth extra, 6th Edition, i6j-. 

Snow-Shoes and Canoes ; or, the Adventures of a Fur-Hunter 
in the Hudson's Bay Territory. By W. H. G. Kings-pon. 2nd 
Edition. With numerous Illustrations. Square cro^vn 8vo, cloth 
extra, gilt, 7^. 6d, 

Songs and Etchings in Shade and Sunshine, By J. £. G. 
Illustrated with 44 Etchings. Small 4to, doth, gilt tops, 25^. 

South Kensington Museum, See " Art Treasures." 

Stanly {H. M.) How I Found Livingstone, Crown 8vo, cloth 

extra, 7j. 6^. ; large Paper Edition, \os, 6d, 

— — ^^My Kalulu^^ Prince , King, and Slave, A Story 
from Central Africa. Crown 8vo, about 430 pp. , with numerous graphic 
Illustrations, after Original Designs by the Author. Cloth, 7^. 6d, 

Coomassie and Magdala. A Story of Two British 



Campaigns in Africa. Demy 8vo, with Maps and Illustrations, 16s, 
Through the Dark Continent, which sc!e. 



St, Nicholas Magazine, is, monthly. 

Story without an End, From the German of Carov^, by the late 

Mrs. Sarah T. Austin. Crown 4to, with 15 Exquisite Drawings 
by E. V. B., printed in Colours in Fac-simile of the original Water 
Colours ; and numerous other Illustrations. New Edition, Js, 6d, 

square 4to, with Illustrations by Harvey. 2s, 6d, 

Stowe (Mrs, Beecher) Dred, Cheap Edition, boards, 2s, Cloth, 

gilt edges, 3^. td, 

Footsteps of the Master, With Illustrations and red 

borders. Small post 8vo, cloth extra, 6j. 

Geography, with 60 Illustrations. Square cloth, 4J. 6^?! 

Little Foxes, Cheap Edition, u.; Library Edition, 



4r. 6^. 

Betty's Bright Idea, is. 

My Wife and I; or, Harry HendersoTis History, 



Small post 8vo, cloth extra, 6j.* 

— Minister's Wooing, 5^.; Copyright Series, i^. (id,\ cl., 2s,* 



• Set also Rose Library. 



28 Sampson Law^ Marston^ ^ CoJs 

Stawe (Mrs. Beechir). Old Town Folk. 6i.; Cheap Edition, 
2/. id. 



— Old Towfl Fireside Stories. Cloth extra, 3^. 6d. 

"^^ Our Folks at Poganuc. 10s. 6d. 

We and our Neighbours, i vol., small post 8vo, ds. 

Sequel to '• My Wife and I."* 

- Pink 4ind White Tyranny. Small post 8vo, 3 J. 6//. ; 



Cheap Edition, i/. td. and 2s. 

Queer Little People, is. ; cloth, 2s. 

— Chimney Comer, is. ; cloth, is. 6d. 

Th^ Pearl of Orr^s Island. Crown 8vo, 5^ .* 

Little Pussey Willow. Fcap., 2s. 

Woman in Sacred History. Illustrated with 15 Chromo- 



lithographs and about 200 pages of Letterpress. Demy 4to, doth 
extra, gilt edges, 25J. 

Studenfs French Examiner. By F. Julien, Author of " Petites 
Lemons de Conversation et de Grammaire." Square cro\vn 8vo, cloth, 2^. 

Studies in German Literature. By Bayard Taylor. Edited 
by Marie Taylor. With an Introduction by the Hon. George 
H. BoKER. 8vo, cloth extra, lOf. td. 

Sullivan {A. M, MP). See " New Ireland." 

Sulphuric Acid (A Practical Treatise on the Manufacture of). 

By A. G. and C. G. Lock, Consulting Chemical Engineers. "With 
77 Construction Plates, and other Illustrations. 

Summer Holiday in Scandinavia (A). By E. L. L. Arnold. 
Crown 8vo, cloth extra, lor. 6d. 

Sumner (Hon. Charles). See Life and Letters. 

Surgeon^s Handbook on the Treatment of Wounded in War. By 
Dr. Friedrich Esmarch, Professor of Surgery in the University of 
Kiel, and Surgeon-General to the Prussian Army. Translated by 
H. H. Glutton, B.A. Cantab, F.R.C.S. Numerous Coloured 
Plates and Illustrations, 8vo, strongly bound in flexible leather, i/. &-. 

'JTAUCHNITZS English Editions of German Authors. 
'^ Each volume, cloth flexible, 2J. ; or sewed, is, 6d. (Catalogues post 
free on application.) 

■ {B,) Gertnan and English Dictionary. Cloth, is, 6d.; 

roan, 2s% 

* See also Rose Library. 



List of Publications. 2 9 



Tauchnitz {B.). French and English. Paper, is, 6d.; cloth, 

2s, ; roan, 2s, 6d, 
Italian and English. Paper, is. 6d. ; cloth, 2s. ; 

roan, 2s. 6d. 

Spanish and English. Paper, is, 6//. ; cloth, 2s. ; roan, 



2s, 6d, 

New Testament, Cloth, 2s, ; gilt, 2s. dd. 



Taylor {Bayard). See " Studies in German Literatiire." 

TennysofCs May Queen. Choicely Illustrated from designs by 
the Hon. Mrs. Boyle. Crown 8vo (See Choice Series), 25, 6d. 

Textbook {A) of Harmony. For the Us^ of Schools and 
Students. By the late Charles Edward Horsley. Revised for 
the Press by Westlet Richards and W. H. Calcott. Small post 
8vo, cloth extra, 3^. 6d, 

TTiebes, and its Five Greater Temples, See Abney. 

Thirty Short Addresses for Family Prayers or Cottage Meetings. 
By ** FiDELis." Author of ** Simple Preparation for the Holy Com- 
munion." Containing Addresses by the late Canon Kingsley, Rev. 
G. H. Wilkinson, and Dr. Vaughan. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 5j. 

TJwmson {/,) Through Cyprus with the Cameray in the Autumn of 
1878. Sixty large and very fine Permanent Photographs, illustrating 
the Coast and Inland Scenery of Cyprus, and the Costumes and Types 
of the Natives, specially taken on a journey undertaken for the pur- 
pose. By John Thomson, F.R.G.S., Author of "Illustrations of 
China and its People," &c. Two royal 4to volumes, cloth extra, io$s, 

Thome {E.) The Queen of the Colonies ; or, Queensland as I 
saw it. I vol., with Map, dr. 

Through the Dark Continent : The Sources of the Nile; Around 
the Great Lakes, and down the Congo. By HENRY M. Stanley. 
2 vols., demy 8vo, containing 150 Full-page and other Illustrations, 
2 Portraits of the Author, and 10 Maps, 42^. Seventh Thousand. 
Cheaper Edition, crown 8vo, with some of the Illustrations and Maps. 
I voL, 12s. 6d, 

To the Arctic Regions and Back in Six Weeks. By Captain 
A. W. M. Clark Kennedy (late of the Coldstream Guards). With 
Illustrations and Maps. 8vo, cloth, 15X. 

Tour of the Prince of Wales in India, See Russell. 

Trees and Ferns, By F. G. Heath. Crown Svo, cloth, gilt 
edges, with numerous Illustrations, y, 6d. • 

Turkistan. Notes of a Journey in the Russian Provinces of 

Central Asia and the Khanates of Bokhara and Kokand. By Eugene 
Schuyler, Late Secretary to the American Legation, St. Petersburg. 
Numerous Illustrations. 2 vols, 8vo, cloth extra, 5th Edition, 2/. 2s, 



JO Sampson Low, Marston, <5^ Co's 



Two Americas ; being an Account of Sport and Travely with 

Notes on Men and Manners in North and South America. Bj Sir 

Rose Price, Bart 8vo, with lllastiations, 2iyl Edition, i&r. 
Two Friends. By Lucien Biart, Author of ** Adventures of 

a Young Naturalist," " My Rambles in the Ncmj World," &c. Small 

post 8vo, numerous Illustrations, Js. 6d, 
Two Supercargoes {The) ; or. Adventures in Savage Africa, 

By W. HI G. Kingston. Square imperial i6mo, doth extra, ^s. td. 

Numerous Full-page Illustrations. 

T TP and Down ; or. Fifty Years' Experiences in Australia^ 
^ California, New Zealand. India, China, and the South Pacific. 
Being the Life History of CapL W. J. Barry. Written by Himsel£ 
With several Illustrations. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, Zs, 6d, 

1/ANDENHOFF {George, M.A.). See « Art of Reading 
^ Aloud." 

Clerical Assistant, Fcap., 35. 6d. 

Ladies* Reader {The), Fcap., $s. 



Verne, The Exploration of the World, By Jules Verne, 

With 59 Illustrations by L. Benett and P. Philippoteaux, and 50 
fac-similes of Ancient Drawings. Demy Svo, cloth extra, I2j. dd, \ 
gilt edges, i^r. 

Veme^s \Jules) Works, Translated from the French, with 
from 50 to 100 Illustrations. Each cloth extra, gilt edges — 

Large post Svo, gilt edges, price los, 6d. each. Those marked *, 

in plainer binding, doth, 55, 

1. •Fur Country. 

2. ^Twenty Thousand Leaarues under the Sea. 

3. *Vrom the Earth to the ICoon, and a Trip round It. 

4. *Miohael Strogoff, the Courier of the Cssar. 

5. Hector Servadac. 

6. Dick Sands, the Boy Captain. 

Imperial i6mo, gilt edges, price "js, 6d, each. Those fnarked 

with * in plainer cloth binding, ^s. 6d, each. 

1. *Five Weeks in a Balloon. 

2. ^Adventures of Three Enfflishmen and Three Sussians in 

South Afrioa. 

3. ^Around the World in Eighty Days. 

4. A Floating City, and the Blockade Buxmers. 

5. *Dr. Ox's Experiment, KCaster Zacharius, A Drama in the 

Air, A Winter amid the Ice, &c, 

6. The Survivors of the ** Chancellor." 

7. ^Dropped ftom the Clouds. 

8. ^Abandoned. 

9. *Seoret of the Island. 



List of Fublications. 3 1 



Verne's {Jules) Works y contintud: — 

10. *The Child of the Cavern. 

11. *The HystevAotLS Island. 3 vols. 

12. The Beifiua's Fortune. 

13. The Tribulations of a Chinaman. 

TJie following Cheaper Editions are issued with a few of the 
IllustrqtionSy in paper wrapper y price is,; doth gilt, 2 s. each, 

1. Adventures of Three Englishmen and Three Bussians in 

South Africa. 

2. Five Weeks in a Balloon. 

3. A Floating: City. 

4. The Blockade Runners. 

5. From the Earth to the Moon. 

6. Around the Moon. 

7. Twenty Thousand Leagrues under the Sea. Vol. I. 

8. Vol. II. The two parts in one, cloth, gilt, y, 6d, 

9. Around the World in Eigrhty Days. 

10. Dr. Ox's Experiment, and Master Zacharius. 

11. Martin Paz, the Indian Patriot. 

12. A Winter amid the Ice. 

13. The Fur Country. Vol. I. 

14. r Vol. 11. Both paxts in one, cloth gilt, 3^. 6cl. 

15. Survivors of the " Chancellor." Vol.1. 

16. Vol. II. Both volumes in one, cloth, gilt edges, y. (xi. 

Visit to the Court of Morocco, By A. Leaked, Author of 

** Morocco and the Moors." Map and Illustrations, 8vo, 5^. 

IJ/ALLER {Rev. C. H.) The Names on the Gates of Pearl, 
^V and other Studies. By the Rev. C. H. Waller, M. A. Second 
edition. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, dr. 

A Grammar and Analytical Vocabulary of the Words in 



the Greek Testament. Compiled from Briider's Concordance. For 
the use of Divinity Students and Greek Testament Classes. By the 
Rev. C. H. Waller, M. A. Part I., The Grammar. Small pdst 8vo, 
cloth, 25, 6d, Part II. The Vocabulary, 2j. 6d, 

Adoption and the Covenant, Some Thoughts on 



Confirmation. Super-royal i6mo, cloth limp, 25. 6d, 

Wanderings in the Western Land, By A. Pendarves Vivian, 
M. p. With many Illustrations from Drawings by Mr. Bierstadt 
and the Author, and 3 Maps, i vol, demy 8vo, cloth extra, i&r. 

War in Bulgaria : a Narrative of Personal Experiences. By 
Lieutenant-General Valentine Baker Pasha. Maps and 
^ns of Battles. 2 vols., demy 8vo, cloth extra, 2/. 25, 

Warner {C, D.) My Summer in a Garden. Rose Library, ix. 



32 Sampson Lotv, Marston, &* Co*s List of Publications. 



Warner (C Z>.) Back-log Studies. Boards, if. 6^.; doth, 2S. 

In the Wilderness. Rose Library, is. 

Mummies and Moslems. 8vo, cloth, 1 2S^ 

Weaving. See " History and Principles." 

Whitney {Mrs. A.D. T.) Hitherto. Small post 8vo, 3^. 6d. 

and 2s. 6d. 

Sights and Insights. 3 vols., crown 8vo, 31^. 6d. 

Summer in Leslie Goldthwaite^s Life. Cloth, 35. 6d, 

Wills^ A Few Hints on Proving^ without Professional Assistance. 
By a Probate Court Official. 5th Edition, revised with Fonns 
of Wills, Residuary Accounts, &c. Fcap. Svo, cloth limp, is, 

Wirt Sikes. See " British Goblins." 

With Axe and Rifle on the Western Prairies. By W. H. G. 
Kingston. With numerous Illustrations, square crown Svo, doth 
extra, gilt, 7^. (>d. 

Witty and Humorous Side of the English Poets {The). With a 
variety of Specimens arranged in Periods. By Arthur H. Elliott. 
I vol., crown Svo, cloth, lOf. 6d, 

Woolsey {C. D,, LL.D.) Introduction to the Study of Inter^ 
national Law ; designed as an Aid in Teaching and in Historical 
Studies. 5th Edition, demy Svo, iSj. 

Words of Wellington : Maxims and Opinions^ Sentences and 
Reflections of the Great Duke, gathered from his Despatches, Letters, 
and Speeches (Bayard Series). 2j. dd. 

World of Comets. By A, Guillemin, Author of "The 
Heavens." Translated and edited by James Glaisher, F.R.S. 
super-royal Svo, with numerous Woodcut Illustrations, and 3 Chromo- 
lithographs, cloth extra, 31^. (id. 

Wreck of the Grosvenor. By W. Clark Russell. 6s. Third 

aKd Cheaper Edition. 

^ENOPHON'S Anabasis; or. Expedition of Cyrus. A 
•^^ Literal Translation, chiefly from the Text of Dindorff, by Georgs 

B. Wheeler. Books I to III. Crown Svo, boards, ar. 



Books I to VII. Boasds, 3^. 6d. 



XouKon: J 

SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & RIVINGT^, 
CROWN BUILDINGS, i88, FLEET STREET.